A little piece of Heaven
by mlickko
Summary: At the beginning, Rukia had no time to give her powers to Ichigo and his sisters got eaten by a hollow, while he died and had to pass to the Afterlife, where he'll learn just what kind of place it really is. With this change in his fate, the story of Kurosaki Ichigo will take new turns and create a different person.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Heavenly Hell, hellish heaven.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

**'Inner hollow/Zanpaktou speech'**

**xxx**

Blood.

Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but red.

Helplessness overcame him.

He wasn't able to do it.

He couldn't save them.

His hands trembled and he heard something dripping on the cold ground beneath him.

It was blood.

His blood. The blood of his younger sister that loved to cook for him and always called him Onii-chan. The blood of his other younger sister who always acted as a tomboy, who loved to play the football with her friends. The blood of his father, that always woke him up with his crazy antics.

He glanced at his hands covered in that gruesome red stuff and felt tears swelling in his eyes.

It was same as 6 years ago, when his mother died and his hands were left covered in blood too.

He couldn't do nothing.

Not even registering his own body, lying across the road, teared up beyond recognition, he arched backwards and shouted in despair.

His voice echoed in the dark night that surrounded him.

He yelled.

He screamed.

He cried.

He let his emotions go wild, until he completely dried up and his vocal cords failed.

Not knowing what to do, he felt weak like never before.

A second voice, that only few minutes before explained to him the way the world he could always see worked, weakly called to him.

"Boy..."

With his hands in his hair, he turned around to see the small figure clad in black lying near the hedge, slowly moving, trying to get up, but failing to do so.

"Shinigami... you are alive?" His rough voice barely held any emotion, yet his surprise was evident.

The raven-haired female got to sitting position and nodded with minimum amount of movement.

"Yes... we, shinigami, are more durable than humans... injuries of this level can't kill me..." Despite her claim, she was clearly having problems breathing, and her hand was clenching her shoulder, where he could see a gaping hole, courtesy of a monster they somehow managed to beat.

"Boy... I'm not a nice person... so I won't try to comfort you... but I need to know if you understand the situation." The shinigami asked, jerking when she tried to take a deep breath.

_'...at least two ribs are broken... damn.'_

The person in front of her blankly glanced at his surroundings and swallowed hard.

"... they are dead... that thing... ate them." He managed to state when he felt the contents of his stomach enter his mouth and he vomited on the ground.

She hesitantly looked at him.

It was clear to her that he was in a pitiful state.

Who could blame him?

Seeing his two little sisters get eaten by a hollow must have broken his spirit.

"I... " She trailed off and looked away, ashamed of her own pitiful self.

It was her job, to protect the humans from the hollows and she failed to do so. Quite spectacularly in a morbid sense.

"... yes. However, I can feel that your father is still alive... "

Her words managed to shake him up a little, and she saw first hints of emotions on his face. Clenching his fists, he managed to stand up and dash towards the still body of his parent.

His father was lying on his stomach, his face hidden from his view, but he didn't care. Hastily, he put his two fingers on his father's neck, checking for a pulse, feeling it after a moment.

"At least you survived, Dad." She barely heard his words, that held all of his emotions that he could produce at the moment.

She watched as his legs buckled under him and he sat next to his father.

"Maybe it's your aloofness that saved you, ha-ha." The boy laughed, tears freely flowing from his eyes.

He sat there for a few minutes, checking for any injury. Finding none, he slowly got up and walked towards the shinigami.

"You're right, he looks fine, he's just unconscious. He only hit his head and had some cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. After a good sleep, he should be just fine." He stared at the shinigami, trying his best not to glance at his right, at the huge pool of blood.

She noticed it but held her tongue.

She knew that nothing she would or even could say, would lessen his pain.

"What happened to... what happened to them?" He asked quietly, his fists clenched again.

The shinigami sighed and held her side when a pain shot through her.

"Since we managed to purify that hollow, the souls of your sisters are now free and they joined the Reincarnation cycle, waiting to be reborn in the World of the Living as different people. They are not suffering or anything like that." She said and saw the tiniest smile form on his face.

"Good... that's good." He whispered and turned his head towards the heavens, quietly praying for their souls.

She gave him a moment, then spoke again.

"You, on the other hand, are still here, which is something that cannot be let as it is. I'm sorry to be blunt but ..." His empty laugh made her cringe a little as he cut her off.

"I'm dead, I know. I realized it immediately. Don't worry, that's the least worrying thing right now for me. So... what do I do now, shinigami?"

"Kuchiki Rukia."

"Excuse me?"

The shinigami pointed at herself and repeated her words.

"Kuchiki Rukia. That is my name, not 'shinigami'." She offered him a hand.

Staring at her for a full minute, he grabbed it and nodded to her.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Nice to meet you, Kuchiki Rukia."

The shinigami called Rukia, faintly smiled at him and grabbed the sword, that was resting next to her.

"Ichigo then. What you have to do now, is quite simple. I need to perform a Konso on you, so that you can move on to the Afterlife. I would let you stay here, but it would be pointless. You can't communicate with the living people and the longer you stay here, the greater the chance that you'd turn into a hollow yourself."

Ichigo stiffened at the mentioning of the word hollow, but he managed to stay calm.

"I see... and what about you? Are you sure you can perform it? You say you're fine, but honestly, you look like shit."

She waved her hand dismissively, not bothering to even get angry at him.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'll stay here for a while and oversee your father so that nothing would happen to him. Don't worry though, using some of my tools, I can implant a memory in his mind, so that he wouldn't have to live with the truth about the deaths of his children."

Closing his eyes for a moment, Ichigo sighed.

"Thank you."

She quickly protested.

"Don't thank me. I... you should be angry at me. It was my job to protect you but I failed. You should take that sword and kill me... I don't know why you still haven't done it ..." Rukia tried to raise her voice, but her broken ribs were too painful and she had to stop talking.

"It doesn't matter who is guilty, so ... don't. Just do the Konso."

She gulped when his voice hardened but it didn't look like he was angry at her.

Motioning him to kneel, she grabbed her sword and readied it.

"Just one more thing before I'll let you pass to the Afterlife."

Ichigo raised his head a little and looked at her expectantly.

"What is it?"

She stared at him for a while.

"I told you before but you possessed quite unusual amount of a spiritual energy as a human. Therefore, it is quite possible that, once you find yourself in the Soul Society, that energy will awaken and you may become a shinigami, just like me."

He raised his eyebrows and glanced at his hands, covered in a dried blood.

"Is it that rare?"

She shook her head.

"No, it happens from time to time. Once the souls are in Soul Society, they sometimes awaken their hidden potential and become a full-fledged shinigami. If that happens, try to make your way to the center of Soul Society, the Seiretei and look for me. I have a feeling that you could become quite the shinigami." Ichigo lightly snorted and grabbed her hands that held the sword.

"We'll just have to see."

Feeling the hilt of her sword tapping him on the forehead, he was surrounded by a bright light and he knew nothing more.

...

_Certain Shop in Karakura Town_

"That... can't be right." A tall, lean-built man with light skin and gray eyes furiously typed on his computer, looking at the screen with wide eyes.

His hair was messy, light-blond in color, with few strands framing the sides of his face and hanging between his eyes.

Next to him, on the table was resting a stripped dark green and white bucket hat, which he wore most of the time.

The man cursed and grabbing the hat, he ran to the entrance of his shop and resolutely opened it.

"I need to change the plans if it's true." He muttered and in the next instance, he vanished from the sight.

...

Five minutes later, he stood above resting female shinigami and looked around himself in a alarm. Seeing the body he was looking for, he flashed next to it and tried to feel a pulse, only to find out that the body was already lifeless and cold.

"Damn."

In his line of vision he noticed another body he knew.

Trying to feel pulse again, he sighed in relief. This body was still alive and so he could talk to that person later.

He returned to the shinigami and shook her up lightly, so that she would wake up.

She stirred a bit but after continuous poking from the shopkeeper, she finally opened her eyes and glanced above her.

Seeing the man grinning at her, she recoiled in shock.

"You?"

The man nodded and pointed behind him.

"I think it's clear I'm not here to harm you. On the contrary, I'd like to offer you help, seeing as you are in no condition to travel back to the Soul Society."

She squinted her eyes suspiciously.

"Why would you do that? How can I trust you. You realize what we are taught about you in the Academy, don't you?"

Shopkeeper just laughed.

"Of course I know and of course you can't trust me. However, do you have any other option? You'll eventually die if you'll leave those injuries unattended, you know. Wouldn't that bring shame to your clan, Kuchiki Rukia?"

Her jaw almost fell on the floor and in a panick she tried to grab her sword, but her broken ribs prevented her from doing so and she yelped from the pain.

"H-how do you know my name?"

With a dazzling smile, the man pointed to himself.

"I think it would be weirder if I didn't know who you are, don't you think, Kuchiki-san?"

Seeing that she didn't know what to do, he crouched next to her.

"Why don't you tell me what happened here? It looks kind of... messy."

He sighed, when he noticed how she cringed at those words and prepared for the worst.

...

_'This is bad.'_ The shopkeeper thought for himself, looking over his shop-assistant's shoulder as he tended to shinigami's wounds.

_'I just hope that his nature will keep him alive for the moment and that with some good luck, he could awaken.'_

"What do we do now, boss?" His assistant asked as his hands were glowing green, providing the shinigami with a healing energy.

He glanced behind him when he heard no response.

The shopkeeper stood there, his face hidden with a fan.

"For now, we'll let things go freely and see what happens."

Assistant visibly frowned.

"Isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't we send some help, or a guidance?"

Man in a hat shook his head.

"No. I think that our young friend can take care of himself just fine. This way, 'that' man's plans will be certainly delayed too. Don't worry though. I'll call her and ask her if she can contact her old acquaintances. He'll be fine, Tessai."

His assistant, Tessai just nodded. They both knew each other from when they were little so there was no need for any doubt.

_'He'll be fine.'_ The man repeated for himself in his mind, as if trying to ease his nervous mind.

* * *

_Soul Society_

Kurosaki Ichigo, not so long ago a quite normal teenager, woke up in the middle of nothing, feeling numb throbbing in his head.

He rolled on his back and with opened eyes looked at the sky above him.

It was possibly the sunniest day he has seen in the last few months and if he focused, he was sure he could hear the quiet rustle of the wind passing through the trees that surrounded him. He was lying on a rather warm grass that slightly tickled his skin.

His mind was hazy, as if something tried to mess with his memories and for a moment, he was completely lost, as he couldn't remember where the hell he was.

As he tried to get up, he grabbed his head, feeling a fairly painful headache.

When he did that, he noticed that his hands were dirty.

Examining them, he realized that it was a dried blood that was covering them and he felt sick.

Glancing on his right, he saw a small lake nearby. His stomach still upset, he begrudgingly got up and slowly walked towards it, intent on washing his hands.

While he took the short stroll, he tried to look around and gather as much information as he could on where he was.

_'I'm... sure that this isn't a place where I live.'_ He thought and raised his head when he spotted some old looking building in afar.

After he arrived to the lake, he noticed that the water inside it was crystal clear, so he decided to drink first and only then wash his hands. It would be such a waste to contaminate the water with that blood.

He hungrily gulped down the water, becoming aware just how thirsty he was. When the cold fluid passed his throat and entered his stomach, he burped and massaged his neck. He had a feeling that he must have yelled quite much, because his throat was very dry.

Next thing he did was to wash his hands and watching the blood flow through the water, he felt as if some heavy burden was lifted from his being.

Shaking his head, he lifted himself and turned to the direction of the old buildings.

_'Maybe somebody lives there, who could explain the situation to me.'_

However, with each step he took to get closer, the worse feeling settled in his gut.

Something was wrong and his instincts were screaming at him.

Trying to suppress them, as he really needed to know where he was, he slowed down his pace and walked more cautiously towards the small hut nearest to him.

He noticed that the doors were slightly opened but he heard no noise coming out of the tiny house, and he felt his instincts almost physically trying to stop him.

Ignoring them for the moment he grabbed the doorknob, taking extra care not to create any sound and slowly pushed them forward, so that he could enter the house.

Inside, he found nothing.

Nothing but the bad and familiar stench of a dried up blood.

Fortunately, he saw no bodies that the blood originated from, yet he shuddered as if he walked in on some bizarre scene he was not supposed to see.

Slowly, he backed away, outside of the building, until he bumped into something.

With a sense of dread, he heard some voice.

"Oh, what do we have here? Somebody was curious, huh?" He spun around to come face to face with a group of violently looking thugs, grinning at him widely.

"Who are you?" Ichigo instantly asked, in his mind counting the number of people in front of him.

The person nearest to him licked his teeth.

"You don't need to know, brat. But if you insist, you can call me your Master." He laughed roughly along with his comrades, who were slowly taking small knives out of their pockets.

_'Where the hell am I?'_ Ichigo cursed and tried to find a way out of this dangerous-looking situation.

"Wait! I don't know what you want, but I have nothing on me. I just woke up and I don't even know where I am." He tried to stall the moment, acting as a clueless guy.

However, his face morphed into a frown when the crowd just loudly laughed.

"Heh, that's rich. Well, consider this a wake up call, brat and welcome to the Afterlife." The man stated with a malicious grin and swung down his fist at Ichigo, who only thanks to his many encounters in the World of the Living managed to dodge and roll away.

_'A-afterlife? What? I'm dead?'_ A myriad of questions flew right through Ichigo's mind but he filed them for later. He knew he had to give the man his full concentration, or he would end up as dead meat in no time.

Ichigo was no pushover and could hold his own against few of the wanna-be delinquents of his own age, but this was a group of adults, not to mention that they were armed with knives.

_'Shit.'_ Despite his hazy memories he realized quite quickly that he had practically no chance, so he tried to stall again.

"You didn't answer. What do you want from me?" Ichigo added a hint of desperation to his voice, which wasn't that hard, considering the situation he found himself in.

The man raised his eyebrow and looked at his fist.

"Well I'll be damned. It's been a long time since anyone managed to avoid my surprise Iron Fist. As a gift, I'll answer your question, brat. Nothing."

Ichigo stared at him, greatly confused by the man's words.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing?"

He backed away when the man slowly approached him.

"As I said, we want nothing from you. However, you are above average looking guy, so our boss would probably like your body so I guess it's your bad luck, huh?" Ichigo froze at those words and gulped.

He didn't like what he was hearing. Those thugs looked normal, if only quite deranged so he considered himself lucky that they weren't most probably gay.

Their boss was however another thing. Ichigo didn't know a thing about him but he already felt ill. If what the man said was true, their boss sounded like a child molester.

He hated child molesters.

Clenching his fists he concluded that he didn't want to end up as the victims in reports he somehow knew he read while he was alive.

Why he read something like that was a mystery to him, but he couldn't dwell on it for long as the man came at him for the second time, swinging his fist again.

In a retaliation, Ichigo steeled himself and side-stepped the man in the last second and kicked his legs from under him, sending the man rolling and crashing into the hut behind them.

He took a calming breath and looked around.

Shaking heads of the rest of the thugs immediately told him one thing.

He should not have done that.

He definitely should not have done that.

...

_An hour later_

Bloodied body of the orange-haired boy was limply lying on the ground. The boy was clearly unconscious, which was most likely a gift.

If he wasn't, he would be in a hell of a pain as the fight he was just in was brutal.

He was clearly beaten up with enough force to create instant bruisings on his skin. Numerous cuts were all over his body, creating gaps in his clothing. They were no longer bleeding, but the blood was still present on him and the clothes.

"Heh, kid gave put up quite a fight, don't you think, Tetsu?" A buff looking man asked the one that was standing above the beaten Ichigo.

A monocle was visible on his face, his lip was busted and his shirt was ripped on his right shoulder.

What was most surprising, was however the fact, that the man called Tetsu wasn't looking angry. On the contrary, he was widely grinning, his breath a little accelerated and he tucked his short knife back into his pocket.

"Yeah. It's almost a shame we have to give him to the Boss. He would make a good training dummy." He wiped the sweat from his brow and crouched down, so that he could pick up the limp body.

"Oi, Tetsu, we should get going. I can feel a shinigami closing on us." Somebody called out to him.

Testu clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Those damn patrols are starting to mess with our business. I'll have to mention it to the Boss." Sighing, he tied Ichigo, so that he couldn't escape even if he suddenly woke up and slung him on his shoulder.

Carefully, so that they wouldn't come across the shinigami patrol, the group managed to cover long distance until they arrived to a huge house.

It looked quite simple from the architectural side. No unnecessary decoration, no expensive looking accessories, no nothing. Aside from being huge, the building wasn't that much different from other houses in the area they were in.

This part of the Afterlife wasn't as heavily populated as others, so until not so long ago, the group had free access to potential 'toys' for the Boss. It was only recently that the shinigami started to make patrols around this area.

_'They probably caught up with the fact that too many souls were getting missing too often. If only boss would use the toys he selected for a longer time and not only few days. But from what I heard, they can barely endure his 'plays' so it's not that surprising... ah, this job is sometimes hard.'_ He sighed and walked past the gate and inside the building.

...

_Some time later_

Ichigo awoke for the second time that day with a throbbing headache. This time, however, he could not see the sky, nor he could hear the breeze passing through the trees.

Instead he was in some dark place.

He tried to move, but his body protested and a sharp pain shot through him.

"Don't try to move. They did quite a job on you. You must have fought back as I saw some injuries on that ... monster." He heard a soft, yet quite angry voice coming from across the room, he apparently was in.

"I did my best and tried to take care of your wounds with the stuff they gave me but it's only so-so. I'm not a medic..." The voice seemed displeased and Ichigo sighed.

The myriad of questions that swirled in his head earlier that day multiplied, and he felt his headache worsen.

"Thanks, I guess." Ichigo thanked the voice.

"Don't thank me. If they took you here with the same purpose as those I saw before, you'll wish you died in that fight."

Ignoring the pain, Ichigo managed to shift into sitting position and as his eyes became little accustomed to the darkness, he noticed that he was in some kind of cell, with two old looking beds, one which he occupied and the second across the room and presumably where the second voice resided.

"Despite that, thanks." Ichigo repeated and heard the voice sigh.

"Sure, no problem."

Ichigo massaged his left wrist, jerking when he felt the dull pain in it and frowned.

"So... where are we? I'm guessing you've been here for a while."

For a moment, he heard and saw nothing, but after waiting a while longer, he heard rustling of clothes.

"I've been here for a week or so, but I still have barely any idea what this place is. Only thing I know is that this is a residence of some 'Boss' person, which is held in quite high regard by those thugs that delivered you and before that, me, here. The second thing I know is the fact that his 'Boss' likes young boys and he uses them for God knows what. Scratch that, there is no God in this place..." The voice trailed off and Ichigo could almost hear the clenching of fists.

"I don't know what that 'Boss' does to them, but when they carry their lifeless bodies, all I can see are countless injuries and a devastated look in their eyes. As if their very souls have been crushed by something. If I'm right, something similar awaits you too in a few days time." The person probably didn't want to sound cruel, but despite that, Ichigo felt sick again.

"Can... can't we escape from this place?"

He heard a sad chuckle.

"Impossible. Remember that group of thugs? This 'Boss' person has twice the amount of guards and servants. Not to mention that the rumor is, he possesses some spiritual power, so the only way you could escape from this place is if you would happen to be a shinigami."

In that voice, Ichigo recognized the tone of somebody that submitted to his fate and he clenched his own fists and slammed them on the wall he was leaning on.

"Damn!"

After a moment of silence, he heard the other voice again.

"What is your name, anyway?"

Ichigo raised his head and stared at the place where he could barely see the silhouette of somebody.

"Isn't it polite to say your name first before asking for mine?" A chuckle followed his words.

"In this hole there is no place for politeness."

"That we can create it."

After another moment of silence, the other voice called out to him again.

"I'm Kazumi."

Despite the situation, Ichigo managed to form a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, Kazumi. I'm Ichigo."

The person across the room, Kazumi, opened his mouth to say something, when they both heard a creaking noise, alerting them that someone was coming.

Not wanting to abandon his somewhat comfortable bed, Ichigo shifted himself, so that he could see the hallway as the light from the opened doors lit the dungeon their cell was situated in.

He heard some steps and he glanced at Kazumi, who was sighing.

"They are probably carrying another one that broke." Kazumi said and Ichigo steeled himself.

It couldn't be that bad, could it?

In the next few moments, he learned just how broken a person could look.

When his eyes caught the sight of the body a duo of men was carrying across the hallway, he widened his eyes and strength abandoned his limbs and only with luck he didn't slide down on his bed.

That thing those men had in their hands didn't look like a human being anymore.

The body wasn't smashed beyond recognition.

It wasn't bloody.

It barely had any injuries at all.

What it lacked was the expression on his face, any sign of being alive. The two eyes that were staring at the ground looked so distant that the person was most likely so deep in his mind, nothing could ever bring him out of it.

His face was expressionless, yet despite that one could see the frozen horror on it, the deeply embedded humiliation after surviving something that he would never tell anyone about.

It looked so bizarre, so unreal that Ichigo almost wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

He felt like he was looking at the empty shell that housed nobody within.

Truly, it was a broken being with crushed soul.

It shook Ichigo greatly and he could almost sense the sympathetic look on Kazumi's face.

"This... this is Afterlife? Isn't it supposed to be great?" Ichigo asked the silence.

"But it is great, don't you see? A heavenly hell."

End of Prologue.


	2. Chapter 1: House of the Pleasure

**If you read the Prologue, you probably understood that this story from the Bleachverse will be darker and less humorous. There may be some romance in the future, but nothing major. More action, less love. Simple as that.**

**Chapter 1 – House of the Pleasure (House of the Dead)**

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

**'Inner hollow/Zanpaktou speech'**

**xxx**

"How are you doing, Isshin?"

The man in question turned his head to the right, both of his hands sliding of his face, showing the devastated look in his eyes.

Isshin Kurosaki was fairly known for his slightly crazy antics around his children, always trying to cheer them up, not wanting to see them cry.

But there was nobody, that could cheer him up at the moment.

He lost his whole family. Thanks to his children, he managed to get over the death of his wife six years ago quite quickly.

Now, even they were gone from his life and the small group of people sitting around him could see that it added a few years to his appearance.

"What do you think, Kisuke? I failed Masaki... I failed to protect them." He grimaced and tried to hold his tears in.

Urahara Kisuke glanced at his shop assistant, Tessai who only shook his head.

Both of them knew just how much his kids meant to the man. They both knew that there was nothing that they could say nor do, that could make him feel better.

In a rare showcase of emotion, Urahara gripped Isshin shoulder and forced him to raise his head that was once again in his hands.

"Isshin... I..." He wanted to say that he was sorry. He felt compelled to do it. After all, he took it on himself to look after Isshin's son in case his unusual spiritual energy would create some accident.

Never in million years he thought that Ichigo would get killed. From the many years he watched him, Urahara knew just how strong-willed Ichigo was. He was so sure that no matter what could life throw at the kid, he would just get back up.

Now, he was sitting next to a mourning father, not knowing what to do, despite being a genius in almost everything.

While a myriad of thoughts were flashing through Urahara's mind, Tessai, who sat behind both of them, coughed lightly, forcing them to look at him.

"If I may, Isshin-san. You know that I'm a man who can't talk around in circles, so I'll be straight with you and say what you need to hear, despite knowing it to be the truth. All of us know that what happened was out of your control. You couldn't have done nothing to change things."

Isshin gulped and the two of them saw one lonely tear escape from Isshin's eye.

"I know... I know that... but it hurts. Even more than with Masaki... how can I face her again? I allowed my children to get hurt... to get killed." He whispered and angrily wiped the tear with his sleeve.

Tessai turned to Urahara in surprise, but the man quietly shook his head.

_'I couldn't have possibly told Isshin that his daughters got eaten. Even if Kuchiki-san along with young Kurosaki-san's help managed to purify the hollow, thus sending their souls into the reincarnation cycle, just knowing that they had to go through that kind of ordeal would simply break his heart even further. No... I had to lie and tell him that they simply died quickly and painlessly. At least now that he's in shock, he can't even tell the difference between their real bodies and the artificial ones I created for him to bury instead. Maybe deep inside he knows the truth... but it is better like this. I just can't tell him the truth.'_ Urahara thought grimly.

He was a scientist, who came across many things of all kinds. Until this day, he crafted quite the number of lifeless artificial bodies for the purpose of being a gigai for shinigami. Yet while he was creating the bodies of his friend's daughters, by the time he was finished, his shirt was wet from his tears.

"Masaki-san was an amazing person. I'm sure that she'd understand it." Tessai firmly reassured Isshin.

Urahara finally found his voice.

"... no matter what, we are here if you need anything Isshin. And do not worry about your son. If anyone could survive on his own in the Soul Society, it's him."

At the mention of his son, Isshin cringed and looked at the ceiling.

"Yeah... Ichigo is a lot stronger person than I ever was... I just hope that one day he'll forgive me for what he'll have to go through." He stated.

Behind him, Urahara glanced at Tessai and almost inaudibly whispered to him.

"Contact Yoruichi-san. There is something I need her to do for me..."

* * *

_Soul Society_

Ichigo tossed around in his sleep, a nightmare filled with blood and screaming that echoed in his mind, slowly torturing his soul.

With a start, he awoke and instantly sat on his bad, trying to catch his breath.

Feeling his shirt wet from the sweat, he glanced at his left hand that was still shaking. He gripped it with his other hand and waited, until ha managed to get his breathing under control.

"Bad dream?" The voice of his cellmate reached his ears, just as he felt his hand stop trembling.

Sighing deeply, he lied back down, trying to ignore his sweaty back.

"Yeah... " He replied after a moment.

Trying to remember what his dream was about, he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction when he couldn't.

Only thing he remembered was a feeling of despair. That fact alone promptly stopped him from trying to recall the dream further.

"What time it is?" Ichigo asked his companion.

As the room was barely illuminated, he couldn't see Kazumi's face, but hearing the somber laughter, he was sure he could picture his expression.

"Sure, just let me look at my watch. "

Ichigo sighed again. From the short time he was in this cell with Kazumi, he learned a few things.

Most of them were about the place he was in and about the people in it and what was going on in here. However, from their short conversations, he discovered that Kazumi was a cynical person. Sarcastic and with a cruel sense of humor, but buried underneath all of the atrocious events that happened to him, Kazumi had a softer and a caring side to him.

Although he rarely showed it.

In fact, the only time Ichigo noticed it, was when Kazumi asked him about how were his injuries.

Ichigo was still grateful to him for treating him after the group of thugs that he met, dumped him here.

Even if he was still feeling a bit sore, he could move almost without any restrictions. As it was, by his calculations, barely more than a day after the beating, it was quite surprising.

When he voiced his surprise, Kazumi explained to him that souls were generally more durable than average human bodies.

As they had nothing better to do than just to talk, Kazumi also explained to him the concept of spiritual energy and how things worked in the afterlife.

During those explanations, Ichigo vaguely recalled hearing about it before, but he just couldn't place the memory.

That was another thing that was confusing him.

It appeared that we was suffering from some kind of memory loss.

He knew who he was. He remembered all the information he learned in his school. He could even recall the place he used to live in when he was still alive.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall any face from his life, nor any names.

"It's not that unusual. From what I heard, those that died in a particularly nasty way lost their memories of people they used to know. It was probably so that they wouldn't suffer in the afterlife. That's what most likely happened to you." Kazumi told him when Ichigo asked him about it.

After hearing this kind of reply, Ichigo was being torn between wanting to know more about his life and forgetting about it.

What kind of sane person would want his memories back, if they would only create more suffering for him?

Hardly anyone.

Ichigo has been dead for only a short while, but the happenings that took place until now were threatening to shake his very sanity.

Being in this dark cell, with minimum amount of any form of illumination, where one could barely see his hands, where you could hear your own breath was psychologically hard on the teen. Only time he could see the light was when guards carried the used victim through the hallway and they had to open the doors leading to it.

At that moment, Ichigo heard the distinct creaking of the door hinges and had to blink when his eyes registered the light coming from them.

He sat on his bed, let his feet touch the cold ground and waited for the sound of footsteps coming in the direction of his cell.

Even with that small amount of light, he wasn't able to see the faces of the guards, that were slowly approaching.

It didn't really matter. He wasn't trying to look at them as he was sure that they were carrying another broken soul, getting ready to get rid of it.

Ichigo suspected that they were doing it on purpose... the carrying of the poor souls that had been broken by the 'Boss'. In fact, he was almost sure that this was some kind of sick game of that 'Boss'. To break his will with the sight of what was awaiting him.

The teen tried not to think about it. He had to focus on his plan of escaping from this place.

Kazumi told him that it was impossible.

On the other hand, his cellmate clearly never tried to escape himself.

When the footsteps passed and the doors closed, Ichigo closed his eyes for a moment.

"How long have you been here,Kazumi?"

The sudden question was met with a short silence.

"You do realize you already asked me this question?"

"Um, sorry, I forgot."

Kazumi sighed and shook his head.

"It's fine. As I told you before, it's hard to say with this eternal darkness. You lose your sense of time rather quickly in here... but I figure that I may have been here a little bit more than a week."

Ichigo raised his head and stared at the place where he thought Kazumi was.

"More than a week and you still haven't been taken to the 'Boss'?" Ichigo asked.

"Gee, thanks for bringing that up. Really nice of you."

Ichigo cringed a little at the tone of Kazumi's reply.

"Sorry," he quickly apologized."It's just... you know..."

Kazumi chuckled quietly.

"Odd? Yeah, you're right. When I got here, after maybe a day, I was told that my appearance does not match the 'Boss's' tastes so for now, they are keeping me here. I don't know what 's going to happen to me in the future though." Kazumi stated and went silent after that.

Ichigo sighed a little and scratched his itchy nose.

_'This makes little sense...'_

Having nothing else to do, he lied down and tried to sleep a bit more, as he was feeling a bit tired.

...

"You know, I was just thinking that we were going to die from dehydration." Ichigo said, gulping down the water from the small mug that the guards brought them few minutes ago.

Kazumi, who drank just enough to keep himself from drying out, wiped his mouth and put his own mug on the floor.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you that every two days they bring some water to keep us alive. Last time was just few hours before you arrived, so I guess we have our timeline."

Ichigo leaned on the wall and massaged his throat, feeling a bit more alive.

"Do they bring some food too?" He asked and almost felt the stare coming from Kazumi.

"No? I mean, we, normal souls do not get hungry, unless we use our spiritual energy. Which we clearly don't possess. I mean, most of the souls that do end up as a shinigami."

Ichigo raised his eyebrow and when his stomach growled a little, he heard Kazumi's sharp intake of breath.

"Y-you are hungry? But... how?"

The teenager scratched his head a little.

"Eh, I don't know?"

Hearing some noise, Ichigo glanced at Kazumi's side of the cell.

"That's great! It means that you do possess some spiritual energy and it also means that there is a small chance of escape!"

"Didn't you say that escaping is impossible?" Ichigo retorted and felt his lips forming a small hopeful smile.

Unbeknown to him, Kazumi just waved his hand.

"It is impossible for the normal soul, but if you could use your spiritual energy then the table could turn in our favour." The sudden elation in Kazumi's voice widened Ichigo's tiny smile and made him grin.

"So we just have to find some food." He declared confidently and after two days, he finally felt something else than anguish.

* * *

_World of the Living_

"Yoruichi-san! Taka-i!"

"What is the boss doing?" A boy with a broom in his hands sweatdropped as he watched Urahara Kisuke grab a black cat and raise it high in the air.

"That's Yoruichi-san, his long time friend, Jinta." The said boy jumped in the air when Tessai appeared behind him from nowhere.

While he was trying to calm down his nerves, a girl of a same age with black hair branded into two braids tilted her head.

"Having a cat for a friend... isn't that a bit... pathetic?" She asked shyly.

"It's just how he is." Tessai answered and ushered the duo to continue cleaning the porch.

When Urahara along with the black cat went inside the shop, Tessai followed him and the three of them sat around a small table at the centre of the room.

"Cut the crap, Kisuke. What's going on? I thought that by this time, the kid should have been training with you but I can't sense him anywhere." The black cat raised the question in a male voice.

Urahara's hand shot to his head and he took off his hat, dusting him in the process.

"Something happened. Something, that I didn't deem possible to happen." He stated.

The cat just swung its tail, waiting for detailed explanation.

"Kid got himself killed by a hollow."

"What?!"

Tessai quickly poured a small amount of milk in the glass in front of the Yoruichi as if trying to calm him down.

Yoruichi ignored it and glared at Urahara.

"You said that you had everything under control Kisuke!" The cat growled and prepared to jump and the man's face.

"Yeah... I thought so too..." Seeing the crestfallen expression on the shopkeeper's face, Yoruichi retracted his claws.

Urahara glanced at Yoruichi with a sad expression.

"You should have seen Isshin... he's having a bad time... even his daughters died in the attack."

The cat seemed to cringe a little and after a slight hesitation, it dipped its tongue in the milk.

"So what now? We have to come up with another strategy-" Yoruichi was interrputed when Urahara shook his head.

"Not necessarily. In fact, we can still use the same strategy, we just need to hurry." He said.

Tessai cleared his throat.

"That's why I contacted you, Yoruichi-san. Kisuke wants you to do something for him." The shop-asisstant nodded to Yoruichi.

"I see. You want me to go to Soul Society and find the kid?" Yoruichi asked.

"Not quite. I want you to go to Soul Society, but I want you to find Kuchiki Rukia. She's the one who was supposed to awaken young Kurosaki-san's power and she's the only one who felt his reiatsu enough to remember it. If you were to go alone, you wouldn't be able to find him in time. Kuchiki-san can speed up to process." Urahara stated.

"How? In fact, why would she even help us?" Yoruichi stared at him unconvinced.

Urahara took a sip from his cup.

"It's quite simple. As you know, Kuchiki-san has been haunted by her inability to save her late Vice-Captain and now she hasn't been able to save young Kurosaki-san, who 'happens' to look just like him. I'm certain that her guilt must be torturing her so if you present her with a way to save him, she'll jump at the offer instantly."

"Manipulative bastard." Yoruichi sighed distastefuly, but she knew that this side of him managed to save many lives in the past.

"Moreover, thanks to her remembering the feel of young Kurosaki-san reiatsu, she can serve as a receiver for when he'll use it." Urahara continued, ignoring Yoruichi's jab at his persona.

"You think it'll be that easy? What if he won't use his reiatsu?"

Urahara chuckled but the laughter didn't reach his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure of it. He most likely lost his memories of his previous life, but they can be awakened with a proper impulse. When that happens, his reiatsu will raise itself enough to be felt from quite the distance. After that, I'm kind of sure that he'll end up as he was while being alive. That means that his spiritual energy will pour of him constantly, making him easy to find."

Yoruichi listened to him and shook her head.

"You sound too confident, Kisuke. Do not forget that you already made one mistake concerning Kurosaki Ichigo. Don't make another."

* * *

_Soul Society_

"Wake up, brat!"

Ichigo jerked up when a cold water was poured on his head, pulling him from his uneasy sleep.

"Wha?" He asked, disoriented from the sudden awakening.

"It's your time." Deep voice entered his eardrums, making him feel dread in his spine.

When all of his senses started to function properly, Ichigo realized that he was being held by his shoulders by two guards, while another three surrounded him.

"What's going on?" Ichigo asked, despite being sure of the answer.

One of the guard yanked him from the bed and Ichigo painfully landed on his knees.

"Boss is waiting for you." Same guard whispered enthusiastically into his ear and Ichigo felt his heart pump like crazy, adrenaline rushing into his veins.

_'No! It's too soon!'_ He thought and frantically tried to rip himself from the guards.

"Don't fret, brat!"

In the panic that suddenly enveloped Ichigo, he ignored the command and elbowed the nearest guard into the gut, making him clutch his stomach.

Dodging a swipe at his head, Ichigo stood up and tried to dash out of the cell, only to receive a painful punch to the back of his head making him collapse on the ground in a heap.

Just as he felt his consciousness fade away, he heard that overly-joyfull guard chuckling at the one who received Ichigo's elbow.

"Oh, this one's quite lively. I think I'll enjoy watching him break."

...

"Rise and shine, baby." A foreign voice called out to Ichigo, trying to wake him up.

With a dreadful feeling in his gut, Ichigo forced himself to turn his brain on. In that instant, he was attacked by a variety of sounds, odors, scents, screams and moans.

Just that was enough for him wanting to be sent back to unconsciousness and he tried to fake being asleep.

His eyes, however opened when he felt a hand on his torso.

His bare torso.

_'Where... where are my clothes?'_ He thought in a panic.

When his brain finally registered what his eyes were seeing, he was left dumbfounded.

He was in a spacious room, the ceiling high above him, covered with ornamental mosaic with a sadistically grinning woman sitting on top of him.

"Welcome to my humble abode, enjoy your stay." The woman leaned on him and menacingly whispered into his ear.

The first thing Ichigo noticed, was that the woman was completely naked. That alone was enough for him to be left speechless and he couldn't even hear what she said to him properly.

He tried to move, but his hands didn't budge.

Glancing at them, he noticed a thick chain attached to the shackles on his wrists and connected to a massive pillar. Same thing has been done to his ankles, with the difference that his legs were spread a little bit.

He was completely nude, his clothes nowhere in sight.

The woman noticed his shocked expression.

"I had you bathed. You reeked of sweat and blood and I can't have my precious toy smelling bad. You are only allowed to smell of despair and defilement." She licked her lips with a hungry expression.

Ichigo wanted to back away from her.

_'T-this woman... she's crazy!'_ He screamed in his head and tried to move, but he was being held tightly with her thighs and with the chains.

He looked around, trying to find a way to cut himself loose.

He shouldn't have done that.

As his eyes fell on the many kids around them, lying on the many beds, couches and stairs covered with carpet, he felt sick.

All of them had some kind of shackles on them, preventing them from running away.

Worst part was that the majority of them were girls, most of them a lot younger than Ichigo himself.

Seeing their terrified faces, he yanked his own chains, desperately trying to get free as a stray memory flashed through his mind, making him jerk from the pain.

_'What... what was that?'_

"You like my playthings?" He heard the sickly sweet voice above his head and watched in disgust as the woman sitting on him dropped her head and licked him all the way from his neck to his ear.

He shivered from the weird feeling on his skin.

"Good. You are lively, just as I was told. It's no fun when they just lie on their back and take it quietly."

"Who are you! What do you want?!" Ichigo couldn't contain himself and yelled at the woman, who's smile only widened further.

"You can call me Mistress, or Boss if you want."

_'This is the Boss those thugs were talking about? He's a she?'_ At that moment Ichigo realized that it made no difference if the child molester was a man or a woman.

The person in front of him wasn't normal either way.

She made his stomach turn and he had to stop himself from vomiting, when he realized what she must have done to those poor girls that surrounded them.

"You bitch..." Ichigo growled and yanked at the chain on his hands as hard as he could and felt his muscles strain, but he couldn't budge the restrains no matter how much he tried to.

In that moment the Mistress swung down her hand and slapped his cheek, hard, making his head sharply turn to the right.

"That's it... call me more." She licked his red cheek prompting another reaction from Ichigo who managed to recover from the unexpected slap.

"I'll kill you, you bitch." He said quietly, putting all of his burning anger into his glare and watched as she flushed and her breathing got heavier.

"Yes, that's the right glare..." She moaned, and Ichigo could almost sense the girls around them back away from her.

He received another punch to his other cheek and the Mistress grabbed his head and shove her tongue inside of his mouth.

That surprised him and he couldn't even fight back, instead he felt her tongue roughly moving in his mouth. When he recovered he caught it with his teeth and bit down on it.

Taste of blood filled his mouth and the Mistress managed to yank her tongue from his mouth before he could bit her more.

"You're really good." She grinned dangerously and without warning punched Ichigo in the gut, leaving him out of breath.

_'Gah... this isn't a strength of a woman, damn...' _ He tought in pain and fought the urge to clutch his abdomen.

He closed his eyes for a moment, but when he felt her weight shifting on top of him, he quickly opened them.

Slightly raising his head, as much as the restraints allowed him to, he glanced at her to see her slowly moving down his legs, exposing more of him than he was comfortable with.

"What are you doing?" He asked worriedly.

He wasn't sure what she wanted to do next, but he was sure it wouldn't be anything good.

She showed him her teeth.

"I think that it was enough foreplay, it's time for the main event."

Before Ichigo could react, he felt her mouth cover his penis and he almost jerked away, but she held him in place with surprising amount of strength.

"Mmm, not bad..." She sucked on him hard and gripped his abdomen with her fingers.

Ichigo, meanwhile, was at a loss of words. He was completely shocked.

He never thought that she would do that.

Ichigo was a teenager and as most of the boys in that age, he sometimes thought of sex but he didn't think that it would happen that to him so soon.

He was looking forward for that moment.

Now, the only thing he felt wasn't pleasure.

It wasn't a satisfaction, nor it was a bliss.

The only thing he felt was humiliation.

Humiliation from the fact that this woman was doing with him what she wanted, without giving him any option. The fact, that he was tied up and the fact that this woman was a sadistic psychopath who casually raped young girls.

_'...kids.'_ Ichigo corrected himself in his mind and desperately tried to shook her off from him.

He screamed in pain when she bit him and he felt her teeth sinking into his flesh.

"Now, now. Be still or accidents may occur."

The was she said the word accidents made Ichigo gulp and with closed eyes he stopped moving and waited until she was finished, praying for it to be soon.

After a few more minutes, she finally stopped sucking and riased her head a little.

"Hmm... so you're fighting it? Guess I have to use it." She mumbled for herself and Ichigo opened his eyes wide when he felt something entering a place that nothing should ever go to.

Applying a slight pressure, the Mistress wiggled her finger and pushed against a certain spot.

Ichigo bit on his lip and despite him trying to stop what was happening, he felt himself become hard.

The Mistress whistled a little in acknowledgment and started to suck again.

This time it went for only a minute, after which she moved up on him and positioned her hips above his crotch.

"This'll be good." She stated and let herself fall on him and Ichigo could feel that he penetrated something wet and squishy.

As the Mistress moaned and started to ride him, he couldn't stop a single tear to flow out of his eyes.

_'This bitch... I'll kill her!' _He angrily thought in his mind, the humiliation reaching another level.

...

"You really think that we can find him this way?" Rukia asked the small black cat running and jumping in front of her.

"If Kisuke says we can, then we can." Yoruichi shortly replied and kept speeding froward.

Just as Urahara predicted, when Yoruichi found Rukia and explained the situation to her, the depressed shinigami perked up and briskly agreed to help.

So there they were, running through the Seiretei, towards the Northern gate, so that they could travel outside, to the Rukongai Districts, where Ichigo should have arrived.

"Okay." Rukia said and followed the black cat without any further questions.

_'I swear that I'll find you and I'll undo my mistake.'_ She thought and two, almost identical faces, flashed through her mind.

...

"Oh yes! Yes! Yes! YES!"

Ichigo was still keeping his eyes closed and tried to focus on anything else, but the constant moans of the woman riding him were braking his concentration and he felt that despite everything, he was coming close to climaxing himself.

He was, after all a virgin and even with all the humiliation he felt, his body was reacting to the sensation of rubbing a woman's inner walls. Even when it looked like the situation would made him soft, the woman on top of him just used her fingers to massage his prostate from within.

However, it looked that the Mistress would finish sooner than him and he prayed for it to happen so that it would be over.

"AAAH!"

With a yell, the Mistress climaxed and Ichigo felt her tighten.

Too much for him to handle.

_'NO! Shit...'_ He cursed in his mind when he felt himself releasing his seed inside of her and another tear escaped his eye.

"Haa... that was amazing." The Mistress sighed in content and brought her face close to Ichigo's who could feel her breath on his skin.

"You were cute, trying to hold off so that we would finish together."

His eyes opened and he glared fiercely at her.

"Like hell I was doing that, bitch! I swear, get these chains off of me and I'll kill you!" He yelled, pulling on his chains with all his might.

He didn't even realize it, but they moved.

It was only for a width of a human hair, but they moved.

The Mistress grinned at him.

"Say what you want but your body responded to the pleasure I was giving you."

Ichigo wanted to spit on her, but he felt alarms going off in his head.

Despite everything that happened so far, he was afraid for what more was coming his way as he was sure that this was not over.

Even after feeling that kind of humiliation, he knew that this much wasn't enough for a person to break so much as those souls that he saw being carried were.

His fears were justified as the Mistress slowly stood up and walked to a table full of different kinds of fruit, appetizers and refreshing beverages, taking a straw of grape and pushing one of it into her mouth while her slaves moved out of her way with frightened expressions. That alone was normal, but next she grabbed a small, black and quite dangerously looking pill and grinned insanely.

She licked her lips and almost jumped back to Ichigo, her apparent excitement flowing into her whole body.

Ichigo watched as she brought the pill next to his mouth and heard her whispering.

"Now, this will get fun."

Quickly turning his head to the side, so that she couldn't push the pill into his mouth, Ichigo tried to sound brave in his question.

"What is that?"

The Mistress's grin widened, almost splitting her face with the insanity written all over it and sat on Ichigo's abdomen. She pointed to the black pill and laughed maniacaly.

"This... is something I got from my very good friends who wear black clothes every day. This little ball of chemicals will cause an implosion followed by a violent explosion within your soul, calling upon the very essence of it and squeezing all of your spiritual energy in your whole body into one extreme moment."

Ichigo blinked.

"I see you don't understand. You see, by giving you this pill, for a moment, all of your spiritual energy will be at the highest possible... no, higher than the highest possible state, making you go crazy from the overflow. In most cases, this will cause your soul to get crushed by its own power, to get burned up from it, but think of the pure bliss you'll feel for those short moments. Mhhh. I'm getting wet just from thinking about it." The Mistress closed her eyes, bit her lip and tried to cool herself with a wet towel as she was getting flushed and her breathing got heavier.

In the next instant, Ichigo understood and put all of his strength into his limbs and struggled as much as he could.

"Oh, that's a nice reaction." The mistress laughed as she hopped up and down on Ichigo, enjoying his pointless struggle.

"Yes, very, very nice." She whispered and using her both hands, she grabbed Ichigo's head and held it in one place so that she could push the pill in his mouth.

_'No!'_

_..._

_Different location_

Yoruichi eagerly looked at Rukia, who suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned her head to the south.

"What is it?"

Rukia turned back and stared at Yoruichi.

"I... I think I can feel his reiatsu."

"Well, that's good, right?" Yoruichi asked nervously, wanting to move again.

Rukia shook her head.

"No, it's not. Something's not right. I can feel it rise rapidly... and not in the good way. I... I can't place my thoughts but something bad is going on." She stated, her face showing the sings of worry.

Yoruichi cursed under her breath.

"In that case, we need to hurry even more."

...

_With Ichigo_

"Aaaargh!"

"Yes. YES! Show me more!"

Mistress's excited yelling was getting mixed with Ichigo's painful screams as she managed to force him to swallow the black pill.

_'It burns! It hurts!'_ Ichigo's mind was getting hazy from the pain that was emanating from his very core.

His whole body felt as if a fire was eating him from within. Like a fire-breathing beast ravaging inside of him, just waiting to be released.

Seeing his pain, the Mistress flushed more, a sweat showed itself on her skin, making her glitter in the light.

As she felt Ichigo's reiatsu steadily rise, she jumped from him and walked towards the group of girls, that were shivering in the corner of the room, where Ichigo's screams scared them to.

Giving them a quick look, she hastily grabbed the arm of one of them and pulled her to the bed.

Only because of the chains the girl was wearing, Ichigo managed to sense her despite his pain.

When one of his spasms ended and left him heavily breathing on the bed, with horrified eyes he watched as the Mistress forced the girl to climb on the bed and place herself above Ichigo's groin.

He could see the girls terrified face. She was openly crying and tried to get away, however, the Mistress held her firmly in the place.

As the Mistress slowly pushed on the girl's shoulder, forcing her to slowly near Ichigo's member, Ichigo started to struggle again.

"Please...no..." He heard the girl's whimper and in that moment, something inside of him snapped.

As he glanced at the girl's face and saw her crying face... a crying face of a barely twelve years old girl, a similar face flashed through his mind.

In a short moment of nothingness, a simple sentence showed itself in Ichigo's mind.

_'She looks just like Yuzu.'_

With that, his soul responded to his anger and his reiatsu exploded, sending the girl and the Mistress flying to the other side of the room.

"AAAH!" Feeling incredible power flowing in him, with one sharp movement, Ichigo broke the chains on his wrists, on his ankles and jumped from the bed.

"Wha-what is this?" The Mistress for the first time looked afraid and she hide behind the girl, that she just few seconds ago, tried to force on Ichigo.

Beads of sweat formed on her, the girl's and everybody else's foreheads when the full power of Ichigo's reiatsu hit them.

The girls fainted soon enough, leaving only two people conscious on the room.

The Mistress, who was positively getting more and more afraid.

Ichigo, who was furiously glaring at her.

In next moment, a surge of reiatsu emerged from Ichigo, forcing him to bend and kneel from the agony he suddenly felt.

This gave the Mistress enough time to somewhat get over her shock and she shakily stood up.

"To think that they delivered me somebody like this... I think I'll keep you. Guards!" She yelled and a dozen man clad in light armor and armed with short knives entered the room.

After one look at the scene they understood the situation and formed a circle around Ichigo, who meanwhile managed to get back up.

"Don't fret now, brat." A disgustingly familiar voice called to Ichigo and the teen glanced at his right, at the guard that he remembered talking too joyful when they were taking Ichigo to the Mistress.

Gritting his teeth, Ichigo clenched his fists.

He stared at the guard.

"You... are going down first." Ichigo whispered as the guards laughed.

"You're a funny o-gah!" The guard was blown away and crashed into the wall, cracking it. When the blood started to flow from his body, he fell on the ground, dead.

The sudden silence that filled the room was deafening.

"Eh?" The Mistress turned her head to see the crumbled guard and looked back to Ichigo, who stood in that guards previous post, with his fist stretched out.

"One down... more to go." Ichigo growled and his reiatsu flared again, sending the guards and the Mistress on their knees.

Even if they possessed a small bit of spiritual energy, it was dwarfed Ichigo's presence and made them feel like a group of ants kneeling in front of a giant.

With a roar, Ichigo moved to the nearest guard and swung down his fist, sending the man into sweet unconsciousness.

Moving quickly, it took him barely a minute to dispose of all of the guards, holding back just enough not to kill them but enough to cripple them.

The Mistress watched the whole scene unfold with slowly widening eyes.

When it was over and Ichigo stood above the broken bodies of her guards, his fists smeared with blood, she fell on her ass and tried to crawl back, away from him

"What...what are you?" Her voice failing from fear, she asked.

Ichigo turned around and slowly approached her his reiatsu still rising.

As his hand moved closer to her, the Mistress yelped and turned her head away.

Ignoring her attempts to get away, Ichigo grabbed her by the neck and forcible stood her up.

"What... do... you... want... I'll give you... money... lots of it..." She barely managed to ask through Ichigo's hand gripping her throat, slowly suffocating her.

Ichigo's eyes shined brightly with reiatsu and he put all of humiliation and rage into his words, while remembering the similar scene with him and the thugs.

"I want nothing from you, just die." He stated and swung down his other hand, punching her in the middle of the chest, sending a powerful shockwave through her heart and body, killing her instantly.

Giving her one more look of disgust, he threw her limp body behind him, next to the guards and looked around.

He stripped down one of the guards and put on his clothes on. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it had to work for now.

As he gulped down the contents of a nearby glass, he clutched his chest, feeling a sharp pain near his heart and felt the power slowly disappear from him.

Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his brow and forced himself to stand straight.

Ignoring the pain and the urge to vomit from his actions, from killing two human beings, he gripped the table next to him.

_'...they weren't human...'_ He tried to convince himself.

Sensing a movement, he turned around to see the group of girls stirring and slowly waking up.

The first thing he wanted to do, was to immediately comfort them. It was the remnants of his brother instinct.

However, as the girls slowly raised their heads to see the scene in front of them with dead or unconscious bodies lying all around and Ichigo, all bloody from the fight, he realized that he must have looked quite scary to them.

It proved to be true, when the girls whimpered and hugged each other, the older ones trying to console the younger ones.

That's why Ichigo just called out to them from the place where he stood.

"I... am sorry you had to see that, but it's over. She's dead and she won't harm you anymore. You can finally get back to your families, I'll make sure of it." He tried to quickly wipe the blood and dirt at least from his face and offer them a small smile so that they wouldn't fear him.

But when he spoke, the girls jumped, as if they heard the sound of a whip lashing out.

Cursing the dead Mistress in his mind, Ichigo slowly turned around, so that he wouldn't face the girls.

"I'm going to look for somebody in the dungeon, so you can try to look for any clothes. I'll be back shortly and then I'm going to get rid of those chains for you."

He moved towards the door and felt relieved when he sensed movement behind him.

After a short walk down the stairs, Ichigo started to feel light-headed and a bit out of breath, the after-effect of the pill finally reaching him.

Clenching his jaw, he willed himself to move forward.

When he arrived to his cell, called out.

"Kazumi, we're getting out of here...?" Seeing the opened cell-doors, the tone of his voice turned into a question and he hastily grabbed a nearby lantern and lighted it up.

He cautiously walked into the cell and took a look around.

The cell was empty.

Kazumi wasn't there.

"What...?" He didn't even get the chance to be surprised, when he heard cries and screams of agony coming from upstairs.

Gathering all of his remaining strength, he sprung into action and ran up.

He stopped before the doors separating the stairs to the dungeon and the spacious room.

It wasn't because he suddenly lost the stamina.

It was because a small girl opened those doors and fell on her knees with a blade sticking out of her chest.

"M-mister..." Blood gushed out of her small, mouth and she dropped on the floor, dead.

"No...no, no, no. What happened to you?" Ichigo quickly turned her over, refusing to believe his own eyes.

"It was supposed to be over, damn it!" He patted the girl's head and adjusted her hair, so that he could see her face.

Noticing the dead look in her eyes, he felt his tears flow freely as he hugged the small body and cursed again.

"Fuck...FUCK!" The eerie silence that answered his scream ignited his anger again and he slowly put the girl's body down.

Angrily wiping down his tears, he stood up and entered the room.

The sight of a shinigami gathering dead bodies of the girls on one place was the first thing that caught his attention.

His fists trembled and his reiatsu surprisingly rose again, forcing the shinigami to turn around.

"You son of a bitch..." Ichigo whispered, feeling the hate within him to swell.

"So you are the one who did this, huh?" The shinigami pointed towards the bodies of the guards and the Mistress.

"Why did you kill them? They were just kids!" Ichigo roared and took a step forward.

The shinigami chuckled.

"Naughty kids should be punished." He answered seriously and raised his hand, pointing his palm against Ichigo, who tensed, not knowing what was going on.

"As you have been naughty as well, you must be punished too... ruining my favourite "House of the Pleasure" just like that. Ts, ts, ts, now I have to go to the one in the 80th Western District, what a drag." The shinigami sighed and started to mutter inaudibly.

_'F-favourite House of the Pleasure? He means that there are more of them? What kind of sick, twisted people live here. Aren't the shinigami responsible for the well-being of the Afterlife?' _Ichigo felt his stomach twist and supressed the urge to vomit again.

"...march on to the south! Hado #31: Shakkahō!" Barely believing his own eyes, Ichigo quickly rolled on the floor, barely dodging a red orb that shot past him and set the nearby couch on fire.

_'What was that?'_

"I see. No wonder that you managed to take care of them, you possess some spiritual energy." The shinigami grinned sickly.

"However, you are still only a soul, whereas I am a member of the 8th Division!" He raised his sword and closed on Ichigo, aiming to pierce his chest.

_'Shit.'_ Ichigo cursed and grabbing the first thing that came to his hand, he managed to redirect the attack and come out unscathed. Using the shinigami's surprised expression, he used what was in his hand and smashed the shinigami's head with it.

He felt the thing in his hand shatter.

It was a plate.

Realizing that Ichigo avoided him with a simple plate, the shinigami angrily swirled around and cut Ichigo on his upper arm.

The teen quickly jumped away from the shinigami and feeling that the pain was manageable, he faced his enemy.

"You mean there are more places like this? More atrocities?" Ichigo spit on the ground.

The shinigami, feeling satisfied with the cut he gave to Ichigo, cracked his neck and his face twisted itself into a more devious grin.

"Why of course. For every 80th District there is one "House of the Pleasure". That's why this one was so perfect. Being in the 72nd District, it was a lot closer to the Seiretei, so you wouldn't have to travel so far. Aah, you see? Now you've done it. I suppose I should enjoy killing you." He said and with a quick jump closed the distance between them, slashing with his sword.

Hearing him talk about the places like this as if they were something one could enjoy, Ichigo roared and with his reiatsu rising again, he side-stepped the shinigami and tried to punch him in the face.

The shinigami, however, managed to shift himself in the air, receiving the punch with his shoulder, but it was enough to sent him flying.

When he fell on the floor, the shinigami screamed in pain, while Ichigo panted, his body getting tired from the pressure being constantly put on it.

"Argh, you fucker! NOW YOU'VE DONE IT!" The Shinigami yelled and using the sword as the support, he raised himself along with his reiatsu.

Ichigo glanced at him and prayed that his body would last.

Even if the one in front of him was a shinigami, he felt that he could win.

If that was the limit of the shinigami's reiatsu, Ichigo had the upper hand.

He purposely turned his head, to see the dead bodies of the girls and his soul responded to his rage, pumping even more spiritual energy into his body, earning a confused look from the shinigami, who, for the first time realized that something was wrong.

"Who are you, brat? This isn't a reiatsu of a normal soul."

Ichigo ignored the words and only glared at the one in front of him.

"Hm, doesn't matter. You'll be dead soon enough!" The shinigami yelled and ran towards Ichigo, armed with a the blade.

Ichigo responded and ran too.

Armed with his bare fists and the all-consuming rage.

...

"Are we getting close?" Yoruichi asked anxiously.

Rukia, who was running beside her nodded.

"Yes, it won't take long before we arrive."

"Good, we-." The cat trailed off when its fur suddenly stood up, as if it got goosebumps.

Rukia glanced at Yoruichi with worried look.

"If the spiritual energy that even I'm feeling belongs to him..." Rukia quickly nodded.

Yoruichi mentally cursed.

"... then we have to pick up the pace."

...

Ichigo fell on his knees, panting heavily when his reiatsu plummeted from the highest level to barely being there and supported himself with his elbows.

His opponent was lying some distance away in a pool of his own blood, with his right shoulder and his head lying in an unnatural position.

It was obvious that he was dead.

This time, Ichigo couldn't ignore the urge to vomit any longer and he emptied his stomach on the ground.

Feeling the temperature from the fire all around him rising, he forced himself to stand up.

He looked around and his eyes fell on the dead bodies of the small girls.

He wanted to bury them but with the fire raging all around, he felt that the cremation wasn't that bad.

The fire would at least purify their bodies, clean them from all of the suffering they had to live through.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he turned around and walked towards the dead body of the shinigami, ignoring the pain from the wounds he received.

Ichigo kneeled and grabbed the sword that was innocently lying next to the corpse.

"If this is how shinigami are, then I don't want to be one, nor I want to use any of their weapons." Ichigo stated and squeezed the hilt of the sword.

"But if it can give me strength, I will."

With that, Ichigo crossed the shinigami's dead body and without looking back, he walked outside, a mission to eliminate every single one of the Houses of the Pleasure firmly in his mind.

...

_10 minutes later_

"What happened here?" Rukia was watching the huge building slowly getting consumed with a raging fire with wide eyes, while Yoruichi cursed.

"Shit, it looks like we were late."

The cat glanced at Rukia and jumped at her shoulder.

"Hey, snap out of it. We still haven't found him. Are you sure that he escaped from here?"

Rukia sighed and looked past the burning house, towards the remaining Districts of Rukongai.

"I'm sure."

End of chapter 1.

**I decided to make 'the Boss' to be a woman. Yes, sue me. I realize that gettin raped by a man would be more horrendous and traumatizing, more violent, but I didn't want to create a broken Ichigo. Moreover, the idea sickened me and I wouldn't be able to write it right. Getting raped by a woman is enough of a painful memory, so Ichigo hasn't escaped unscathed. His psyché suffered some wounds.**

**I will mention them again.  
**

**Till next chapter, bye.**


	3. Chapter 2: Burn it down

**For those who read this story : Yes, this fic will be darker than my previous ones.  
**

**As always, thank you for the reviews.**

.

**Chapter 2 : Burn it down (The Catalyst in your head)**

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'_Inner speech/thoughts'_

**'Inner hollow/Zanpaktou speech'**

**xxx**

Kneeling deeply, his head almost touching the ground, Ichigo tried to take a deep breath. His face was covered in a cold sweat that was dripping down on his hands he was using as a support. Next to him lied a small pile of vomit poisoning the air with its acidic odor, making it hard to breathe freely.

When another urge to vomit threatened to overcome him, he punched the ground, using the pain to dull the feeling if not suppress it completely. The pain in his fist quickly disappeared but fortunately, so did his urge to vomit.

Not fully convinced that it was truly behind him, Ichigo remained in the same position for a few more minutes before reaching behind him and grabbing the sword he managed to usurp from the shinigami he killed few days ago.

_'...the shinigami I killed...'_ The picture of him almost slicing his opponent in two, along with the image of his fist slamming the woman that raped him and the guard that mocked him, entered his mind.

Three people.

Using his own hands, he already killed three people since he passed to the Afterlife.

Suppressing another urge to puke with a deep breath and banishing the memories filled with the blood, he slowly got up and glanced at the sword that was the source of the pile of the vomit next to him.

It has been three days since he burned down the cursed brothel where he has been imprisoned for a while.

Three days since he traveled alone, thinking about his future with his thoughts always inevitably returning to his killings.

Ichigo was not a stupid person and so he quickly realized that if he was to come across another shinigami in his quest of destroying those disgusting brothels, he would need to learn how to wield the sword he stole.

However, it wasn't that easy. Every time he wanted to grab the sword, he froze and couldn't do it.

He finally managed to do it this day but the images assaulted his mind almost instantly and so he ended up puking his guts out.

Using the sleeve of his shirt, he wiped the corners of his mouth clean and looked at the vomit with a bit of a disappointment.

_'Ahh... and there went that little food I managed to find.'_

Strangely, after he was forced to empty his stomach, he was not feeling as bad as he thought he would.

Actually, he was feeling better.

_'Maybe I puked my guilt...'_ He didn't crack a smile.

Now that he could look at it without feeling the urge to throw up, he inspected the sword with carefull eyes and he noticed a strange thing.

The sword that was in his hands was not the same one he took from the shinigami three days ago. The blade was no longer curved, instead it was completely straight and the hilt was a bit larger.

_'But that's impossible.'_ Ichigo dismissed the notion rather quickly and decided that he must have not seen the sword properly the first time.

I mean, who ever heard about a sword that could change, shape it's own appearance?

Ichigo certainly didn't and so he settled for the first most rational explanation he could come up with.

Testing the weapon's balance, he tried to replay some of his memories in his mind. He was fairly certain that he could hazily recall a memory of him attending some sort of dojo whilst still alive.

With a deep frown on his face, he closed his eyes and let his memories roam.

_'...dojo, dojo... it was a... karate dojo, I see.'_ Slightly disappointed when he realized that what he used to attend was only a karate dojo, he stared at the sword.

_'What now... hmm.'_ A new memory entered his mind. A memory, in which he was again in the dojo, but he was listening to a person explaining basics of sword handling.

He concentrated on the memory and after few more minutes, Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose.

His memory didn't show him much but what it showed were some basics katas and stances. It was still something useful and without further ado, he got into the first basic posture and started to swing his sword.

A few hours later, he finally lowered his hands and leaned on the nearby tree, feeling a bit spent. Hearing a loud growl escaping his stomach, his brow wrinkled and formed another frown. It came to him as a no surprise. He has been excercising on an empty stomach after all.

With a click of his tongue, he focused his eyes over the horizon, to gaze beyond the forest that currently surrounded him. During those three days he has been traveling, he never met a single living person and it unnerved the teen.

The food was not an easy commodity to find in the vast planes of the Soul Society. The trees that grew in this area were not the kind that could provide any fruit nor he never came across any kind of vegetables. It made him wonder just how did the animals he sometimes spotted survived on their own.

It was only thanks to those occasional animals that Ichigo hasn't starved to death yet. Furrowing his brow, he scanned the area, using every one of his five senses to find any animal he could catch and eat.

With a grim expression, he tucked the sword inside the sheath and ignored another growl of his stomach.

_'Seems like dinner will have to wait for a while.'_ He thought and using the little knowledge he had about orientation, he began to walk in his chosen direction, hoping to come across anything with the edible potential.

...

From the tree branches, Yoruichi watched Rukia asking questions about any kind of information on the person they have been looking for, so far in vain.

Both them realized that even if they saw something, people living in this part of the Rukongai would most likely never tell them anything, unless bribed with something. Moreover, since Rukia was a shinigami, pedestrians and onlookers actively avoided the raven-haired woman and she didn't blame them. She remembered what it was like living in the Rukongai herself, when she was just a kid. She too, would not probably open a conversation with a shinigami that suddenly showed up on her doorstep or that just called out to her.

Yoruichi never lived in these kind of conditions herself, but one long look told her everything she needed to know. If they wanted any answers, they would have to move to the lower districts of the Rukongai, where people were more talkative.

She waited a bit more before she saw Rukia glance up at her and shaking her head negatively.

"I see. So the 70th District is not enough. We may as well go to the 64th. They have at least few bars where one could gather some intel instead of just randomly stopping people, asking them questions." Narrowing her eyes, Yoruichi turned her head around to stare in the directions the two of them came from.

"Even then... I had hoped that we could at least find out about that mansion that has been burned down. It's unusual to see a building of that proportions in such place. Why was it there? For what purpose?"

She hopped down from the tree and slowly approached Rukia.

"And more importantly, why does it look like the kid was the one who burned it down?"

...

"I may as well take a dip in the water. I'm beginning to stink." Ichigo said to himself while finishing the last portions of his dinner.

After walking for an hour, luckily for him he came across a small lake that housed quite the number of fishes he managed to catch after an another hour of failed attempts. As he was still surrounded by trees, there was no problem with finding the wood for a fire.

It took him another half an hour to actually light it up but he didn't complain. It was better than starving for a day.

Swallowing the last bite, he took his clothes off and rinsed them a little in the mildly cold water. They were too, dirty and sweat and wearing them was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

He spread them on a large rock near the fire, so that it could dry up and after throwing some more pieces of wood into the the fire, so that it wouldn't die, he slowly walked into the lake, enjoying the cold sensation of the water on his bare skin.

It was difficult to tell what season it was in the Soul Society, but Ichigo didn't care. All he needed to know was that the temperature of the air and the water was bearable.

It was the first time since he passed onto the afterlife that Ichigo had a little piece of peace so he let the water support him while he just floated like a leaf, forgetting about everything that happened until this moment.

With his body like a cross, he took a deep breath and just enjoyed the silence enveloping him. The calming effect of the water soothed his body and his soul and Ichigo almost fell asleep.

He gazed upon the sky and the clouds that passed through it.

_'I envy you, clouds. The only thing you have to do is to float in the sky without any responsibilities and baggage that could weigh you down.'_ He thought about the memories that he saw just before he snapped in the House of the Pleasure.

It was a memory of two girly faces smiling at him from afar.

His sisters.

_'I hope that wherever you are, you are safe.'_ Ichigo thought with a hint of sadness on his face. He remembered what happened to them but he couldn't help to think that the fact that they couldn't pass onto the afterlife with him was a blessing on its own accord.

He didn't know what would he do if his sisters came with him and were also kidnapped and forced to...

Immersing his head into the water fully, he shook off those rather disturbing thoughts and focused on the breeze that passed his wet face, refreshing him greatly.

He still couldn't remember much of his past life but he was starting to think that it may be for the best. This way, there was nothing more that could weigh him down.

From what he knew, he was sure that in his past life he had some friends. Faces covered with shadows, faces without names, but faces that his mind sometimes replayed for him.

Were they sad that he was gone?

He didn't want to think about that. What about the rest of his family? He could only recall his sisters and that memory alone was heavy enough.

Hearing a branch snapping, he stiffened and plunged into the water. He swam under the water surface and let his head resurface only when his feet could touch the bottom.

"Who's there?" He asked sternly.

"It's me, Ichigo. It's Kazumi. I've been looking for you." He heard a familiar voice coming from behind a large boulder.

"Kazumi?" Widening his eyes a little, he slowly emerged from the water and neared the fire to dry himself.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Ichigo called out to him.

"No, I just... don't like fire. Could you put your clothes on?"

Frowning a little at the tone of Kazumi's voice, Ichigo quickly dressed and approached the boulder.

"Come on, why are you still hiding?"

"Stop!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the distressed voice coming from behind the rock.

"Just... promise you won't freak out."

"Uhmm, okay? I promise?"

After a moment, Ichigo saw a person emerging from behind the boulder and he opened his mouth to fire a few questions but he stopped midway. His expression went from surprise to shock.

"What... what the hell happened to you?"

Ichigo was staring at the person in front of him, the one he knew under the name of Kazumi. It was hard not to stare as that person's face was the reason for his shock.

It was not the fact that Kazumi was not a man but a woman that shocked him. After all, Kazumi was a name that could be used for a male just like it could be used for a female.

It was the fact that almost half of Kazumi's face was horribly disfigured by what appeared to be a burn marks, her short hair barely covering them.

"Don't tell me... I did it when I burned down that brothel?" Ichigo felt his throat dry up.

Kazumi quickly shook her head.

"No! No... this happened to me a long time ago."

Ichigo released the breath he didn't know he was holding in."

"A-aren't you disgusted by me?" Kazumi asked in a quiet voice.

The teen glanced at her with a frown.

"Why would I be? I mean, I'm a bit surprised but that's all."

Kazumi offered him a quick small smile. Ichigo thought about what she said and glanced behind him.

"That's why you said you didn't like the fire."

She nodded.

"Yeah."

Since he didn't need it anymore, Ichigo walked to the fire and smothered it with a dirt. Motioning Kazumi to sit down, he sat down himself.

"So what happened to you? I couldn't find you anywhere inside so I figured you must have escaped while I was with that bitch." His mouth twitched a little when the image of a woman sitting on top of him flashed through his mind.

When Kazumi gave him an apologetic look, he raised his hand.

"It's fine. We don't know each other properly. Escaping was a good option."

Kazumi glanced at the sword lying next to Ichigo before opening her mouth.

"When the guards came for you, I hid in the shadows of the cell and waited after they took you away. I noticed that since you made a ruckus they actually forgot to lock the cell, allowing me to leave it. By the time I found an exit the building was on fire . I barely made it out before I blacked out from the amount of fire I saw. When I woke up, the only thing that remained from the building were the ashes and I didn't know what to do." She said and looked at Ichigo, who stared back at her.

"I see. "

She shifted a little and continued to talk.

"However, I heard something about others brothels like that and I had that crazy thought that you may want to destroy them so I decided to travel to the one in the Northern District and that's how I found you." She finished and poked the ground with a stick.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a while.

Something about her story was giving him bad vibes. He couldn't quite put his hands on it but he was sure she didn't tell him everything.

"And now what?" He asked.

Kazumi shrugged.

"I don't know. Just like you, I'm alone so I thought we could travel together."

For a minute, Ichigo was silent and just studied Kazumi with careful eyes.

"What's in it for me? I mean, I'm grateful to you for taking care of me when I was dumped in that cell but it would be a stretch saying that we're now friends." He finally stated with suspicious eyes.

Kazumi stopped poking the ground and pointed the stick at the sword next to him.

"I noticed that you found a sword. I could help you train with it. I was quite proficient with swords in my past life." That sparked a little interest in Ichigo but he remained sceptical.

"How do you know I need to train?"

"You don't?"

Scowling at Kazumi, Ichigo clicked his tongue.

"No, you're right. I have an idea on how to use the sword but it's nothing concrete. A tutor would be helpful."

"Well, there you go. In exchange for you letting me travel with you, I'll teach you everything I know about the swordsmanship." She offered him a hand at wich Ichigo stared for a moment.

_'My gut tells me not to trust her but... if i want to survive, I guess I have no other choice.'_

He reluctantly took the hand and shook it.

"Deal."

...

"Get back here you fucking thieves!"

Ichigo ran after Kazumi, a deep frown visible on his face. They were trying to escape from a pissed off vendor they have stolen some food from. It was Kazumi's idea and Ichigo glared at her back.

When she suggested it, Ichigo almost immediately shot her down. He was quite satisfied with the food he could acquire on his own and had no inclining on stealing from others. After they finally found a small village, it took less then a few seconds for Ichigo to realize that people here had to live in scarily poor conditions.

He considered stealing from this kind of people a great sin. Everywhere he looked, the citizens had weary and tired expressions and it was very rare to find a shop in which you could find any kind of meal since normal souls without spiritual power didn't need to eat.

It was only out of pure desperation that they were forced to steal the little food they found in those shops.

Since Kazumi began travelling with him, Ichigo haven't spotted a single animal or anything else that could be edible.

Coupled with the fact that under Kazumi's guidance, he has been rigorously training with the sword, unconsciously depleting his reiryoku reserves, after almost a week without any food he was ready to eat even the grass under his feet.

So he stole.

He paid no care to what he was hastily tucking into his pockets, anything was good for him.

Hearing no more footsteps behind him, he glanced back and then called out to Kazumi.

"Oi, we're clear."

Kazumi slowed down and turned her head to nod to him.

They wandered around and finding a nice spot, they sat down, to see what treasures they managed to take.

"Just so you know, I'm still not okay with stealing." Ichigo stated and repeatedly reached into his pockets to remove everything he had in them.

Taking out the last item, he scanned the small pile in front of him.

He managed to steal a slice of bread, potatoes, tomatoes and few slices of meat. Kazumi on the other hand only had a bread and two bottles of water.

Ichigo carefully assessed the amount and rubbed his chin.

"Considering that I'm the only one who has to eat, I think that this much is enough for a week or even more."

"I'd say five days tops."

Ichigo turned to Kazumi with a raised eyebrow.

"You were thinking of eating just enough to keep you from starving but if your plan really is to burn down the other brothels, then you can't afford to lose your strength just because you were too noble to steal from others again." She stated thoughtfully.

Ichigo sighed and shook his head, taking the bread into his hand and hungrily biting it. Kazumi kept the promise and the day after they started to travel together, she has been teaching him the ways of the sword. She made him do many kinds of stances, correcting him all the way until she deemed it satisfactory. While Ichigo was busy swinging down his sword at his imaginary foes, she always opened a short conversation with him.

During those talks, Ichigo revealed to her that burning down the other brothels was indeed his plan. She seemed oddly pleased with it and started to train him even more intensely than before.

Ichigo didn't complain. He actually enjoyed the training. The constant strain on his muscles was calming him down, making him forget about the past happenings. It didn't take long before he couldn't even think of being separated from his sword. It honestly baffled him.

The sword was originally a possession of a twisted shinigami but the longer Ichigo spent time training with it, the more he found it as his own possession, something he wouldn't want to be separated from.

When he wasn't training with his sword, he sparred with Kazumi using hand to hand combat. He discovered that Kazumi was really good at it and as long as Ichigo didn't start to use his spiritual energy, she could quite hold her own against him.

That was another thing. Soon after he escaped from the brothel, Ichigo realized that one of the reasons he could achieve that was thanks to his spiritual energy. So he started to try and use it consciously in his attacks. It was a slow process, but he was definitely doing a progress.

He asked Kazumi why she didn't try to steal any weapon seeing that she really knew how to handle a sword.

The answer to his question was an image of her scarred hands, unable to hold any kind of weapon for more than mere seconds. She told him that it was from the same incident that burned her face and he didn't ask more.

"There is something I need to tell you." Kazumi cut off his thoughts and forced him to look at her.

"Hm? Sure, go ahead."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes when Kazumi's expression grew serious.

"I heard it while we were locating a good shop to steal from. It seems that we have arrived to the 80th Northern District and the brothel should be around three days away from here."

...

Crouching behind a large bush, Ichigo slowly moved towards Kazumi, who was approaching from the side. The pensive look on her face unnerved him.

"What did you find out?"

"You first."

With a click of his tongue, Ichigo glanced beyond the bush to see if anybody spotted them yet.

They have finally discovered the brothel in the 80th Northern District and were currently trying to come up with some sort of plan to destroy it, while saving the enslaved.

"Fine. I tried to snoop around and I have found out two important things. Today it's not open so there aren't any visitors. Which is bad and good at the same time but that also means there is a lower probability of us running into a shinigami. The second thing is, the owner of this place is supposedly inside." Ichigo reported and glanced above the bush one more time.

He was getting nervous. Forcing his eyes on Kazumi, he concentrated on her own report.

"I only managed to determine one thing. We are a day too late to save anybody. They disposed of all the prisoners yesterday evening." Kazumi stated and gulped a little when a dark look crossed Ichigo's face.

"What do you mean, disposed of?"

She bit her lip nervously and hesitated a little, before continuing.

"From the talk I hear between the two guards, they used a shinigami to kill all of them. Apparently, they were too 'broken' to use anymore." Kazumi couldn't help but to grimace distatefully at the actions of the enslavers.

However, that was nothing in comparison with Ichigo's reaction. With his expression hard as a stone both of his clenched fists shook from anger and he was starting to increase his reiatsu output.

"I know what you're thinking, believe me Ichigo but you have to calm down a little. We don't want to alert them, right? Think about the plan."

Ichigo pulled out the sword from the sheath and glared at the direction of the brothel.

"Screw the plan, I'm going to murder all of them."

As the reiatsu around Ichigo was still rising, along with his murderous glare, Kazumi considered stopping him only for a second before getting out of his way. She wasn't there when Ichigo decimated the guards in the first brothel, therefore she never saw him really angry.

Seeing that now, she realized that whatever reason he had for doing this, she wouldn't be able to stop him. But she also knew that in anger, one can forget his surroundings, so she carefully followed him, in case he would need a support.

Since they were no longer hidinig behind the bushes, Kazumi was sure that the guards must have noticed them by now and in her mind, she was preparing her muscles to do some beating.

However, she forgot that from the guards point of view, they looked like potential customers. Ichigo has been keeping his sword hidden from the open view so when they came closer to the guards, they suspected nothing.

"Halt." The first guard stopped them and closely scrutinized them.

"What is you-gleh..." The second guard was cut down even before he could finish his sentence, leaving the first one just staring at the scene in front of him in shock.

He managed to recover but his scream never left his lungs as Ichigo quickly snatched him by the neck and with all of his strength, threw him against a tree. One breaking sound later and the guard fell on the ground.

Ichigo didn't even spare them one glance before walking to the entrance.

"Let's go, Kazumi."

...

In the 64th Western District, Yoruichi was sneakily jumping from the roof to roof, trying to avoid being seen by any bystanders, while Rukia was nearing a small pub, covered in layers of clothes to hide the fact that she was a shinigami.

Watching her go inside, Yorucihi landed on the pub's roof and curled up behind a chimney, hoping to listen at least to some of the conversations.

Inside of the pub, Rukia came to the counter and quickly scanned the room. It was dimly lit and looked quite poor.

_'As expected from the higher district.'_ She murmured under the large scarf wrapped around her neck.

Ordering a light beer from the bartender she leaned above the counter and shoving a good amount of coins to the bartender's hand, she forced him to look at her.

"I'm looking for a bit of information, danger-free." She whispered in low voice.

The bartender stared at her suspiciously, but the weight in his hand was too tempting.

"Ask."

Under her clothes, Rukia grinned slightly. It was always good to carry some redundant money in cases like this.

"I've been looking for a... friend. He has orange hair so he should be noticable."

The bartender roughly snorted and put the beer in front of Rukia.

"Never heard of your friend. I've seen some weirdos in this area but not one of them had orange hair."

Rukia frowned. She didn't expect that.

_'So he didn't come through here... damn. Landing in the 72th District I was sure he would try to get to the better areas.'_ With a thoughtful look, she tried to catch the bartender's attention again.

"One more question. I heard about a huge mansion in the 72th District. That's quite unusual don't you think?"

The bartender stiffened.

_'Bingo.'_

He slowly turned around and asked in a low voice.

"If you have more of those shiny coins, I may know something about it." Taking a few of them from her pocket, Rukia gave them to the bartender without any further thinking. He nodded to her and motioned her to lean closer.

"I don't know what is your business with that place and frankly, I don't care. I've seen bigger bastards asking about it. That place is called House of Pleasure, a brothel of some sort but it's a bit different from the usual ones. They have children in there, that's why it's kept in the 72th District where almost no patrol ever goes to."

Rukia's hand in which she held the beer shook and she had to put it back on the counter or else she would spill it. With wide eyes, she managed to recover from the nausea that washed over her.

"But I heard that the owner is quite the bitch. She uses her own slaves for her own pleasure and breaks them too often so nobody lasts. If you want fresh ones, you should visit the other three."

Breathing heavily, Rukia pulled her hands from the counter and kept them there, so that she wouldn't break something.

"You mean there are three more places like that?" She fought hard so that her voice wouldn't waver.

"Yeah. There is one for each 80th District so there is one in the Northern, one in the Eastern and one in the Southern District. The on in 72th Western is closer only because the owner had enough money to bribe any patrol."

Hearing that, Rukia quickly thanked him and left the pub without her mouth ever touching the beer.

Yoruichi found her few minutes later hunched over a tree, trying not to vomit.

"Did you found anything?"

Rukia turned to her and weakly nodded.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it."

...

"What are you doin-gaaah..."

Ichigo wiped his bloody sword against the body of the guard that fell in front of him. Taking a look around, he supressed the horrible feeling inside his chest and tried to analyze the situation.

It seemed like he managed to take care of the every guard that was present, along with the owner of the place. This time it was a man. What angered Ichigo more was the fact that he would never suspected somebody like this from doing such despicable acts if he met him on the street.

The owner was a middle-aged man with short hair, fatherly looking face and an athletic body. The only thing that gave him away was the psychotic grin when he admitted to enjoy raping his prisoners.

After that he went on to describe the techniques he often used on his victims before Ichigo angrily plunged his sword into his jaw, effectively shutting him up.

It was now that he could calmly look at the scene, the urge to vomit once again awoke within him. He killed all of them easily.

Too easily.

Ichigo tried to be strong and during a fight he never wavered but once the adrenaline stopped, the truth of him being just a fifteen years old boy hit him. He had to fight the panic from the sight of all the bloody corpses around him that he killed.

Kazumi was nowhere to see and Ichigo forced his eyes to move from the body lying in front of him.

"Oi, oi, oi what have you idiot done to my favourite place?" Ichigo quickly spun around and grimaced.

_'Just like the last time, a shinigami. Why I keep finding shinigami in such places like this. I don't understand.'_

He immediately voiced his opinion aloud.

"Why is a shinigami in a place like this? Shouldn't you be trying to make the afterlife a better place?"

The man in front of him stared at him for a minute before exploding in a full-blown laughter.

"Bahaha, what is with you kid? Did you hit your head or something?" Hearing him laugh, Ichigo couldn't control himself and launched himself at the shinigami.

He hit nothing but the air.

_'Huh?'_

"That's rude, kid. You shouldn't attack somebody during a conversation." The man's voice came from behind Ichigo who hastily turned around.

_'How did he do it? I didn't even see him move!'_

"Oh yes, you wanted to know what I'm doing here, right? I suppose I could tell you as you'll be dead in a few moments."

Ichigo ignored the threat and watched the man carefully.

_'There is no was he could just disappear. Think! How did he do it?'_

He knew he needed a time to figure it out, so he took the bait.

"Sure, do tell me."

The man grinned and sighed with a far-away look on his face.

"I don't know who you are, but I think it's clear that you're no shinigami so you probably don't know shit about the Captain of the 2nd Division, hmm? My Captain I mean."

_'So he's from the 2nd Division. Great, the first one was from the 8th. What the hell is wrong with them? No, focus. How could he have just vanish?'_

"Captain Sui-Feng." The man said jovially and then scowled.

"That bitch. She's a slave-driver you know? When we're slacking in our training, she take out a whip to punish us... a fucking whip! What am I? A fucking circus animal?" He snarled and Ichigo for the first time felt the man's reiatsu.

It was comparable to the on he fought in the first brothel but it also seemed that it was not everything the man had in his possession.

A small breeze caught Ichigo's attention.

_'Wind... when I launched at him, i felt a light breeze just when he disappeared... maybe...'_

"If I ever had the chance, I'd show her that a bitch like her should lick a man's feet... but as it stands, it's impossible. What do you think are the chances that you'd find somebody's look-a-like? As it turned out, they are quite fucking huge and I found a girl that looked just like her in here. So what if she was just a kid? As long as she could scream it's okay. And boy could that kid scream." The man's face twisted into a cruel smile and he rubbed his hands.

Ichigo gulped and his hands shook, but he tried to ignore the rising anger inside of him.

_'...if...if I'm right, it means that he was just using so quickly that all I felt was a breeze from his movements... but how?'_

"Oh yes, she screamed so nicely when rammed it into her. Hey kid, ever did a double penetration using your zanpaktou?" The man laughed deviously and ignored Ichigo's deadly stare.

_'Shinigami possesses spiritual energy so it stands to reason that they can use it for multiple purposes. So if I'm right, it means he used his spiritual energy to move faster than a normal human can... but how? Is it just by pouring the energy into your legs or how?'_

The shinigami finally noticed that Ichigo was quiet and just glaring at him. He responded with a grin.

"What? Trying to figure out how to kill me? Don't bother kid, my friend is in Onmitsukido and taught me several things. So just because I'm an unseated officer don't go thinking you can kill me just like that." As if trying to prove his point, he suddenly flickered from Ichigo's view and reappeared behind him.

Ichigo was already turning around and a little blood spurted from a cut on his shoulder. He grimaced but the pain was easily bearable.

_'I almost saw something blurry... so I'm right. He's not just appearing randomly, he's just moving that fast... maybe I could try it too..'_

Looking disappointed that Ichigo didn't cried out from the pain, the shinigami licked his bloody sword.

"Good, don't go and die easi- woah!" He suddenly exclaimed and blocked a strike from Ichigo who flashed in his face with a satisfied grin.

_'I did it! Though It feels like I almost broke my ankle... but I think I understand some of the mechanics behind it...'_ He thought and using the knowledge he got from Kazumi, he pulled away only to strike at the shinigami while doing that, cutting the man on the wrist.

The man frowned and spinning around aimed a kick at Ichigo's chest. The teen barely managed to raise his hands to block it and was pushed several feet away.

"You will regret that..." The shinigami stated in low voice and flickered from the existence again.

When Ichigo received the kick he unconsciously raised his reiatsu and now he found himself seeing a blurred image of the shinigami trying to pass around him and slashing him across the chest.

He quickly parried the attack and when the shinigami landed he immediately jumped at him and wounded the man on the leg.

The shinigami growled and tried to flash around Ichigo once again, pumping even more spiritual energy. In a split second he found himself blocked, Ichigo's face pressed against his blade.

"I can see your movements." Ichigo whispered and raising his reiatsu he pushed the man from him and followed with a quick jabs, forcing him on the defensive.

With each strike the shinigami's face twisted more and more and when he felt his back against the wall he snarled and let his sword fall down.

This action caught Ichigo by surprise and he let himself get punched into the jaw, making him spin around and plunging into the table.

He quickly stood up, trying to shake off the throbbing pain in his cheek.

"We, members of the 2nd Division are trained assassins. Don't think that you've won, fucking brat." The shinigami jumped and landed next to Ichigo, aiming an uppercut.

Ichigo cursed and hastily side-stepped it and attempted to retaliate with a quick slash. The man ducked under his sword and leaning backwards kicked it from Ichigo's hands. He followed with a spinning kick to the stomach, but Ichigo with his fighting reflexes honed from all the fights he has been through during his life, put up a guard and caught the leg.

Gripping it tightly he turned around and threw the man into the wall.

Looking at his left, he flashed to his sword and hastily tried to pick it up but it was kicked away from him before his very eyes. Without having a chance to block, he was kicked himself.

He landed on the remaining table in the room, crashing it painfully.

_'Ow, damn... he's fast, I give that to the bastard but I'm getting used to this quick movement myself.'_ Ichigo thought and with wide eyes rolled to the side to avoid getting his chest crushed by a drop kick.

"Stay still and let me hear your screams!"

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that you tortured some girl, right?" The anger Ichigo felt at the beginning of his attack on the brothel returned in full force and he raised his reiatsu again, earning a grimace from the shinigami.

"I see, you're no ordinary soul huh? Too bad, kid." He showed him the sword that was once again in his hands, surprising Ichigo.

_'When did he..?'_ The teen cursed under his breath and desperately looked around.

Meanwhile the shinigami smirked and enjoyed the expression on Ichigo's face. Widening his eyes, he started to laugh maniacally and flashed to Ichigo who from the corner of his eyes found his own sword lying under his own feet and as fast as he could, he crouched down and raised it to try and block any strike.

He only managed to raise it in front of him before the shinigami appeared before him with a grin, that started to slowly fade when a small stream of blood gushed from his mouth. Glancing down, he noticed a sword piercing him through the stomach.

In a crouching position, Ichigo stared at him with a blood splashed across his face. Remembering the purpose of all of this fighting, he angrily pushed his sword to completely pierce the shinigami forcing the man to choke on his own blood.

With a quick motion Ichigo yanked the sword from him and frowned when the shinigami didn't immediately fall down.

His breathing was haggard and he was using one of his hands to press on the wound but the shinigami stubbornly remained standing.

"Don't underestimate a shinigami, you fucking brat..." He grunted and spit some blood on the floor.

Clenching the hilt of his sword, with a final push, Ichigo forced his reiatsu to the maximum and whispered with murderous glare.

"You're the one who's underestimating me."

...

Outside of the brothel, covered with blood, Ichigo met Kazumi, who was covered in little blood herself. He slowly put his sword back into the sheath and stared at her with a hint of suspicion.

"Where were you Kazumi?"

She was breathing heavily and nodding to him, she sat on the grass.

"I... I was in the dungeons, trying to find any survivors and came across few guards." She said tiredly.

Ichigo wiped the sweat from his brow and acknowledged her words with a grunt. He looked around and seeing what he needed he walked to a short distance, returning with a pile of wood.

"Time to burn this down."

An hour later the two of them watched the fire from afar, enjoying the warmth on their skin, tired but satisfied. Rather than watching the actual fire, Kazumi watched Ichigo's face and gripped his shoulder when she felt it was a right moment.

Without turning his head, Ichigo spoke to her.

"You know Kazumi, I've been thinking. Why are things like this? Why are there shinigami so rotten that they would go to these kind of brothels? Why are these brothels even here? Why do people have to live in such conditions? This is the afterlife, many dying people are looking forward to their heaven and in turn, they get this. Why?"

Having no answer to that, Kazumi remained silent.

"It is not my duty, obligation to correct all of this. I'm not some hero that would just suddenly try to save every soul in the world. I never considered myself a bad person. I mean, when something bad was happening I tried to help. But only if that happened in front of my eyes. I was being naive and ignorant. No more. I have no memories of my remaining family or my friends but I'm sure as hell I had some. Eventually, they'll die too and then they'll come here and I refuse to let them suffer. I'll make this place a better place. No matter how long that'll take." He trailed off, his eyes watching the flames.

"I'm not striving to create a perfect heaven, I'm not that stupid and I know that it's most likely impossible to do so. However, I'll do everything in my power to come as close to that as I can. That's a promise. Not to you, not to anyone but myself. I will erase as much evil as I can, that I swear on my soul." He turned away from the fire and looked at Kazumi.

"Let's go. It's going to be a long walk to the next target."

...

"Looks like we are a few days late." Yoruichi commented while looking at the pile of ashes the size of a mansion.

Rukia carefully walked through the destroyed remnants of a building, trying to look for something, for some clue.

"At least we now have it confirmed. The kid's next destination is another brothel and since it would take too long to go to the Southern first, he must be headed towards the Eastern one." Yoruichi stated.

Since Rukia didn't react, she continued to talk.

"However, I find myself quite curious. Kisuke said that we should have been able to feel his reiatsu clearly but we can barely sense it and Kisuke rarely is wrong. Something unexpected must be happening."

Hearing a shocked gasp, Yoruichi glanced up at stiffly crouching Rukia.

"What is it? Did you find anything?" After a series of short, quick jumps, Yoruichi landed next to Rukia and looked down at the thing Rukia has been staring for a moment.

"Is that..."

Rukia grabbed the thing and raised it to inspect it closer.

"Yes, it's a zanpaktou."

Yoruichi grimaced in repulsion.

"So the rumors have been true, the shinigami really do visit these brothels. Gotei 13 really have fallen."

"That's not all, Yoruichi-san. Look at this." Rukia put the burnt sword lower so that the black cat could see it better. Yoruichi's pupils widened at the sight.

"This is a sign of a 2nd Division..." She cursed and swung her tail angrily.

_'What happened to my division, my little bee?'_

...

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

Ichigo wiped his mouth and allowed Kazumi to guide him to their belongings. She sat him down and pulled a bottle of water from her bag. Handing it to him, she watched him slowly take a few gulps.

"Thanks." He muttered and wanted to return the bottle but realized that it would be better to keep it. Only a few people would want to drink from the bottle he drank from after vomiting half of his lunch. So he decided to keep it and took another gulp.

"There is still some bread left. You should eat it or you won't be able to train fully." Kazumi said and pointed to the piece of bread lying next to him.

Ichigo glanced at it and after hesitating a little, he grabbed it and put it in his mouth.

"It's not that surprising, you know?" Ichigo turned to her with raised eyebrow.

Kazumi just shrugged and motioned him to continue eating.

"I mean that your body is reacting like this. No matter how hard you try, you're still just a kid. You just have to give it a time. It's not easy to get used to killing others."

Fortunately, Ichigo had his mouth full as he wanted to snap at her, which she noticed and weakly smiled at him.

"You're not the only one who had to kill, remember? On the other hand, I have killed before. Mostly in self-defense, but that doesn't make it any less wrong or painful. The guilt will be there no matter what circumstances."

Taking another sip of water, Ichigo finally swallowed the piece of bread and put down the bottle.

"It's not like it's the guilt that I'm feeling. I mean, every person I have killed so far have been bastards, perverts and those kind of sons of bitches that shouldn't even be allowed to breathe. It's more like... I'm disgusted by myself." He said in low voice and glanced at Kazumi.

She continued to weakly smile at him, there was no loathing in her eyes.

"You feel like you've fallen on their level?"

Ichigo shrugged.

"Maybe, I don't know. I just feel so dirty."

"Well, we could always take a dip in the water."

Ichigo chuckled and shook his head.

"It's so easy during the battle. When I'm fighting I'm thinking about this kind of useless stuff. My mind is firmly set on the task, I concentrate on fighting. I think about my strikes, when to attack, when to pull away and just defend. It's after the fight that it starts." He said and stared at the ground below him.

Kazumi grabbed his arm and squeezed it lightly.

"That's good. It means you can keep your cool which is a great predisposition for somebody who will encounter more fights in the future. However you can do nothing for the rest I'm afraid. You just have to endure it and it will get easier."

Ichigo stiffened and tried to pry his hand from the grip but Kazumi squeezed his hand firmer.

"I don't want to get the killing to get easier! It's already too easy!" He raised his voice a little and a deep scowl settled on his face.

"Ichigo. Hey, Ichigo. Look at me."

Kazumi waited until Ichigo begrudgingly glanced at her. With a yelp he massaged his head after receiving a whack on it.

"Idiot, you misunderstood. I'm not saying that the killing will get easier. It never does. It's just that dealing with it becomes easier as the time passes. Those feeling of disgust, of self loathing and the guilt get more dull until it's relatively easy to ignore them. Killing others should never be easy. That it bothers you is the sign that you are indeed, a good person. " She explained with a firm stare.

Returning it with shaky gaze, Ichigo nodded after a while.

"Thanks." He muttered and grabbing the bottle, he took another gulp.

Kazumi stood up and dusted herself.

"Now, enough talking, it's time to train. There are still some things I can teach you. For example when you're left open, don't try to force yourself and just go with the flow and..." She started to explain more of her instructions and Ichigo slowly got up himself, thanking her in his mind.

...

"It's them." Ichigo whispered and his hand almost immediately went for his sword.

Kazumi stopped him and stared him in the eyes.

"Tell me, why are we doing this? Is it for revenge?"

Ichigo shook his head and glanced back at the clearing, where a band of thugs was having some sort of party. It was evident from the amount of empty bottles of alcohol splattered all around them. They were the same group of thugs that kidnapped Ichigo the day he awoke in the Soul Society for the first time.

He quickly shook his head.

"No. Well, it would be a lie to deny that there isn't a speck of revenge on my mind. After all, thanks to them I was sent to that bitch who..." He trailed off and Kazumi noticed that his hands shook.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later. The thing is, I'm angry at them but this is not just about some petty revenge. These scumbags are the ones who abduct children and dump them to those brothels. They can't be forgiven and with them out of the picture, there is a lower possibility of recreating the brothels." Ichigo knew that it wouldn't completely stop the human trafficking, far from it. However, it was a start.

He glanced at Kazumi. She raised her eyebrow.

"You know I'm not going to stop you. I'm not going to defend them. I just want you to remember the reason for doing this so that you won't lose your way. Aside from that, you have my support."

Giving her a short smile, Ichigo slowly pulled out his sword and prepared to jump into the clearing. Before he did it, Kazumi told him one more thing.

"Remember, do not use flashy moves. I know that since you found out about that high speed movement you're dying to use it in a battle again but you still haven't perfected it yet. Just stick to the basics." A nod later, using a bit of his spiritual energy, Ichigo jumped high and landed in the middle of the clearing, amidst the thugs who looked at him in surprise.

One of them drunkenly called to the man behind him.

"Oi Tetsu! Some birdy landed heeeere." At the mentioning of that name, Ichigo gripped the hilt of his sword, gaining attention of the others who finally noticed the weapon in his hands.

"What?" Tetsu staggered to the scene with a bottle in his hand and squinted at Ichigo. After a minute of nobody moving, he raised and pointed his finger at the teen.

"I remember you, brat. You're that... huh?... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting fucked in the ass or something?" The clearing erupted in laughter and in a small distance Kazumi cringed.

Despite Ichigo'd back being in her point of view, she knew what kind of expression was now on his face. Her intuition proved to be right when a heavy reiatsu filled the clearing and a moment later, the cries of pain echoed through the air.

Carefully, she neared the clearing, to watch the scene unfold and to provide a support for Ichigo, if needed.

That proved to be unnecessary, as when she got closer, it was already half-way over.

Few minutes later, an angry Ichigo was standing in the middle of the bloodbath, his sword imbedded in the ground and his breathing heavy. She quickly walked to him and it was the right thing to do as he leaned forward and was forced to empty his stomach.

She rubbed his back to soothe him and took a peek at their surroundings. It wasn't a nice sight but one could see that it wasn't done by somebody who enjoyed killing.

If that was the case, the bodies would have been more crippled, more mutilated possibly dismembered. The corpses around her bore only two kinds of injuries.

A precise strike through the heart or a cut deep enough to sever the arteries, both of them causing quick death.

When she felt that Ichigo was done, she helped him get up and offered him the bottle of water.

"What do you want to do with them?" She asked quietly.

Ichigo took a deep breath and gazed at the bodies in front of him.

"I have something in mind."

Two hours later, the duo left the clearing, heading towards their next target, the brothel in the 80th Eastern District, leaving a pyramid-shaped monument made from a stacked pile of stones that hid the dead bodies of the thugs.

On the very top of it was a small wooden plate with a few words written on it.

_"Here lies the remnants of the group of the human traffickers. The rest of you, beware. I'm coming for you all."_

...

Kazumi listened to him with wide eyes that were full of pity. It has been a week after they encountered the group of thugs and left a warning to the rest of their kind and Ichigo was now currently telling her what happened to him after he was taken from the cell to the Boss of the brothel they stayed in.

Truthfully, she didn't know how to react to all of that. She had the fortune, if you could call it that, that since she was scarred, nobody wanted her body and therefore, she wasn't exposed to any kind of rape.

She wanted to squeeze his shoulder but stopped herself in the middle of the movement. What amazed her was the fact that even after being raped by a woman, Ichigo spent now more than two weeks travelling alone with her and never once he glared at her or made an effort to avoid her touch. And she had to touch him during their training when she corrected his stances are when they sparred.

Just for that, the respect she held for him grew even more, creating a painful sensation in her heart knowing what would eventually had to happen to the two of them.

She shook her head. They still had some time together.

"... and then she took some random girl and tried... she tried to force her, force us to... " Ichigo trailed off and clenched his jaw but Kazumi realized what he wanted to say and she felt her own anger bubble under her skin.

"In that moment I kind of remembered something from my past life and I just... snapped."

She bit her lip and anxiously asked.

"What did you remember?"

He slowly turned to her and offered a small sad smile to her.

"My two little sisters."

The tone with which he said it told her more than he realized. It was clear to Kazumi that whoever Ichigo's sisters were, they no longer belonged to the living. With a resolute sigh, she stood up and glanced at him from above.

"You know Ichigo, you maybe don't realize it, but you are amazing."

Ichigo scowled at her with a snort.

"Yeah, right."

"I mean it. Even after everything that happened to you, you still feel remorse when killing those who caused you pain and moreover, even after what that Boss did to you, you're still here with me, talking to me like it was nothing." Kazumi firmly stated but Ichigo just waved his hand.

"It's not like you are the Boss."

He raised an eyebrow when Kazumi laughed.

"Sorry, but I had to laugh. Do you even realize how admirable is your attitude? Most of the guys in your age would rather had they fingers cut off than get close or even touch a woman again. Incidents like this causes major traumas that are often really hard to overcome. That you can talk travel with me so easily just shown how strong your will is. That is in my opinion amazing."

_'But now that I think about it, maybe this is the true reason for his vomiting. Mabye after killing somebody he remembers what happened to him. You could say that his ability to endulge in violence with full concentration is too, a result of him getting raped. It wouldn't be that surprising. Actually, it fits quite nicely.'_ She thought after replying to him.

Ichigo didn't say anything to that and just took a gulp of water before standing up.

"Well, i think it's time for more training. We should be getting close to the next target so no time to waste."

...

"Bad news, Ichigo. It looks like they heard about what happened to the first brothel and they have a seated officer stationed as a guard." Kazumi reported after crouching behind a low wall together with Ichigo who came from the other side.

She was met with a small smile that confused her.

"I can deal with him. What's more important is that this brothel still has their prisoners and from I heard they are new and still nothing happened to them. It means we can actually save somebody this time." Ichigo said in a low but excited tone.

Kazumi eye-smiled at him but tried to calm him down.

"Okay, that is good, but remember to take care. A seated officer is a lot stronger than the ones you fought before so be careful."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

She frowned when he left their hiding place and looked at his slowly retreating back.

_'He's getting too cocky.'_ She thought warily and aimed her steps towards the entrance to the dungeons of the brothel.

...

"Not bad, brat. Still, this is the end for you." The shinigami grinned maliciously and wiped the blood from the cut on his forehead. He slowly walked towards Ichigo, who found himself bound with a yellow rope made from an energy.

He tried to struggle, but the wound on his stomach was making it very painful to move. Desperately trying to free himself, he scanned the room for anything useful.

The room itself was once again, as it was with other brothels, filled with bodies of dead guards, leaving Ichigo and his opponent the only ones still breathing.

The fight between the two of them started a couple of minutes ago and from the beginning it looked like Ichigo would easily prevail. He was faster, his attacks were heavier, his kicks and punches were stronger and his swordsmanship was comparable to the shinigami in front of him.

The shinigami, despite presumably being a 19th seat from the 6th Division was having great problems with Ichigo and his swordsmanship and his ability to think while on foot. Twice in their fight, Ichigo managed to surprise him with a startling movement which combined martial arts and his sword handling, hence the cut on the shinigami's forehead and on his chest.

However, everything changed once the shinigami uttered some incantation that Ichigo never heard before and his sword changed before the teen's very eyes. Since that moment, the shinigami was the one on the offensive, pressing Ichigo with his new speed and the strength behind his attack. His reiatsu too, grew exponentially but that was the only thing that didn't bother Ichigo as his own reserves were already a lot higher.

_'Why did his sword change? I've never seen anything like this... shit.'_ The shinigami was already in front of him with his sword raised high.

"It's over." He swung his blade down but Ichigo kept his eyes open as a seemingly random memory appeared in his mind.

It was a scene where he found himself bound by some sort of spell that a raven haired shinigami uttered. Next he saw himself getting out of it and he immediately understood what he had to do.

Barely in time, Ichigo flexed his reiatsu and broke free from the binding. Hastily he rolled to the side and avoided the danger by mere inches. Quickly getting up on his feet he kicked the surprised shinigami in the gut and jumped back to create a distance between the two of them.

_'Concentrate, it doesn't matter what shape his sword is. I just need to be able to react to his attacks.'_ Ichigo thought to himself and carefully watched the shinigami to get up.

The man wasn't grinning anymore. Instead he was glaring daggers at Ichigo who almost wanted to snort. It was always the same. Every shinigami he fought so far taunted and mocked him at first but when they received a hit or felt that Ichigo managed to do something he shouldn't be able to, they started to glare, to stare, to curse at him. By the time he arrived to this brothel, Ichigo learned to ignore this.

"Unforgivable." The shinigami growled and flashed to Ichigo with his sword pointed directly to Ichigo's chest. The teen blocked the jab and retaliated with a slash that was too parried.

"Tell me one thing, shinigami." Ichigo almost spit the last word before continuing, "what is your reason for being here, in this brothel? Before I destroyed the last two, I was always forced to listen to reasons others had for it. You on the other hand haven't tried to tell me that so far."

The shinigami widened his eyes before pushing the teen off him.

"It was you who did that?" He exclaimed angrily but then his mouth twisted into an evil smirk.

"No reason... I just like to hear them scream. Occupation hazard, you know? Try being a shinigami for a few decades and then you'll understand."

Ichigo stared at him in disbelief.

"Fuck."

_'How can people like that serve as a shinigami? Don't they use any psychological tests before admitting them in their ranks?'_ Ichigo growled and his reiatsu grew explosively, becoming almost visible.

The shinigami unconsciously backed away.

"You... who are you, brat?" He asked surprisingly calm.

Ichigo readied his sword and sent a heated glare at the direction of the man.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, the one who will clean the Soul Society from the trash like you."

...

Kazumi wiped the blood from her fists and hurried to the last cell, opening it with a key.

She turned to the group behind her that consisted from few scared children and two adults, a man and a woman.

"When my partner finishes his business on the upper floor, you will have two options in front of you. Either you will escape and try to live a new life, or you can stay here and use this mansion as your new home." Kazumi stated and watched the man glance at the woman.

"You're asking too much, stranger. We don't know each other. We have only met yesterday when we got dumped here by the one who called himself the owner of this place." The man replied and glanced at the stairs fearfully.

"You don't have to worry about the owner. This isn't the first time me and my partner are doing this. We have already destroyed two similar brothels. However, this is the first time we found any prisoners ... " Kazumi wanted to add "alive", but seeing the scared looks in the children's eyes, she rather trailed off and hoped that the two adults would understand what she meant.

They did and with wide eyes they glanced at each other, at the children and then hesitantly nodded.

"Good, now we..." Kazumi widened her own eyes when she felt a heavy reiatsu pressing on her. She gazed at the group behind her who was forced to bend a little.

"Wait here, I'll take a look." She said and hurried up the stairs worried about Ichigo a little.

A moment later she opened the doors to see Ichigo and the shinigami coming at each other with their sword raised and prepared to strike each other. From the corner of her eyes she noticed a small projectile flying at Ichigo in high speeds from behind and seeing that he was not aware of it, she screamed at him as loud as she could.

"Behind you!"

His eyes darting to her, Ichigo understood and glanced behind him to finally notice the projectile. With a clenched jaw, he turned back to the shinigami and they stuck at each other, locking their swords.

"Shit." Kazumi cursed and moved to try and stop the projectile from hitting Ichigo when a he stopped her by flaring his reiatsu a little.

She anxiously glanced at him and almost tripped in surprise when she saw him grinning.

At that moment, Ichigo stopped pressing against the shinigami's sword and let himself get pushed backwards. Falling down, on his back, the projectile grazed him on the shoulder and embedded itself in the middle of the shinigami's chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.

"Idiot! Do you want to get yourself killed?" Kazumi yelled and ran towards Ichigo who landed on his back.

Ichigo chuckled and tiredly waved at her.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you're fine too, Kazumi."

She ignored him and whacked him on the head.

"Get up, we have survivors downstairs."

With a wide smile, Ichigo let her help him get up and grimaced when she did it not so kindly.

"Oww." She raised an eyebrow at that and took a closer look at him. Ichigo never "owwed" before.

Seeing the blood trickling from his stomach she cursed and quickly sat him on the nearby chair.

"See? This is what you get when you're too cocky." She berated him and snatched a single bandage from her bag. Ichigo just shrugged and received another whacked on the head.

"Oi, is that how you treat wounded?"

"Shut up or you'll have to bandage yourself."

Clicking his tongue, Ichigo snorted and let her put a plaster around his waist. While she was doing that, he leaned over and took out a bottle of water.

"How are you feeling?" Kazumi asked more calmly.

"I can manage. It's just a cut and the pain is bearable."

"Not that, you haven't vomited yet, have you?"

Ichigo stiffened and peeked at her with wide eyes.

"Now that you mention it... my stomach is quite calm."

She gave him a short thumbs up and finished the bandaging allowing him to slowly stand up.

"So, where are the survivors?"

...

It was a day later that Ichigo and Kazumi were leaving the mansion and this time, they left the building intact instead of burning it down. Standing in front of it, the duo waited until the children went inside before engaging in conversation with the two adults.

"Are you sure you want to stay here? I don't think it's good for the kids to live in such a place..." Ichigo muttered with a grim expression.

"Well, it's a nice building that has more than enough rooms so for now I think we should stay here. All of us came here only yesterday so the kids don't even know what this place used to be. Moreover, I don't think anyone would want to come close to this place and if they did, that monument will scare them away." The man glanced at the monument in front of them.

It was a similar one that Ichigo and Kazumi made for the group of thugs . They hoped that it would be enough to secure the building from other human traffickers. In any case, they promised to return to the place in the future to see if everything is okay.

"Well, okay then. I guess this is goodbye." Kazumi said and glanced at Ichigo who suddenly shook his head. Ignoring him, she shook hands with both the man and the woman and waited for Ichigo to do the same.

The woman thanked them one more time for saving them and after that, the two of them left. They had one more target left.

...

"So he was the one who created the monument?" Rukia asked the man, standing in front of the doors to the mansion.

Yoruichi was listening to the conversation from Rukia's shoulder, her mind deep in thoughts.

It seemed that they have missed Ichigo only by a day, which meant that they were closing on them. They have discovered that he was not travelling alone, which was in their opinion good. He needed a company.

What bothered Yoruichi was that it seemed that ichigo was the one doing most of the killings and she was worried that it may affect him in the wrong way. She hoped for his sanity to be still intact. He was in her opinion still just a child that was now killing people like flies.

Rukia thanked the pair for the information and left the place. However, she stopped just before she could lose the mansion from her sight.

"What is it?" Yoruichi asked.

Rukia raised her hands.

"I'm sending a hell butterfly to my Captain. He needs to know what is going on here and I also want him to set a patrol so that these people could get some peace."

"You think it will meet with success?"

Rukia smiled a little at the cat.

"Captain Ukitake isn't the kind of a person that would ignore something like this. I believe in him." She sent the black butterfly and grabbed the her bag.

_'Finally, we're gaining on you, Kurosaki Ichigo. I promise that this time, I will save you.'_

...

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kazumi snapped after Ichigo shook his head for the twentieth time.

He shook his head one more time and glanced at her with nervous eyes.

"I... I think I'm going crazy, Kazumi."

"What?"

When she kept staring at him for a full minute, Ichigo gulped.

"I can hear an insane laughter in my mind."

End of chapter 2.

**Thanks for the reading. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out ;)**

**P.S: At the beginning of the chapter, Ichigo reminds himself that he killed three people. You must think : "What about the guards that were left to burn in the fire?". Well, they weren't killed by Ichigo, but the fire. He just didn't save them. It's not different for us but for Ichigo, it was.**


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